History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 3

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 3

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).

The legal field, however, was not the only one in which Senator Patterson achieved prominence. In 1890 he became the proprietor of the Rocky Mountain News and later of the Denver Times, the News representing the morning and the Times the evening editions of these publications. It may be said that the seed for his great success as a journalist was sown in the little country newspaper office in Crawfords- ville, Indiana, where he learned the printer's trade, for there he first experienced the fascination connected with newspaper publication. Later on he disposed of his inter- est in the Times and still later sold his proprietary interest in the News. His editorial work gave clear evidence of his versatility and ability as a deep thinker and fluent writer and to his great credit may it be said that he used his talents always in the, advocacy of the rights of the masses against corporate control and aggrandizement. His editorials were as sweeping and masterly as the speeches he delivered in the national conventions of the democratic and populist parties. During his campaign tours, leading him through many states when advocating the election of Mr. Bryan, he delivered many brilliant philippics in behalf of the people against the enslavement of the money power. His speeches scintillated with poignant facts, incontrovertible shafts of logic and delicious humor.

In 1901 he received the united support of the democrats, populists and several republicans for United States senator, all the votes of the legislature except nine being

HISTORY OF COLORADO

cast for him. Most valuable were his services to the state during the six years in which he sat in the upper chamber of congress in Washington. It is a record of battles which he fought faithfully and earnestly in behalf of the people and it is well known that he was always the champion of their rights and principles. It is but natural that a man of Senator Patterson's stamp, with his strenuous manner of advocating and maintaining his views, should engender political enmity, yet nothing swerved him from his duty as he saw it-even his political opponents united in paying to him personally the highest respect, appreciating his absolute sincerity.

In Watertown, New York, in 1863, Thomas Patterson wedded Miss Catherine A. C. Grafton, a daughter of Dr. Samuel H. Grafton and a grandniece of Alexander Campbell, founder of the Christian church. Mrs. Patterson was as prominent in social circles of the state and capital as was the Senator in official life. She was connected with many movements undertaken in behalf of moral uplift, intellectual development and welfare principles. She was also deeply interested in church work and many were her charitable acts and kind deeds. She passed away July 16, 1902, and her demise, as well as that of two sons and two daughters, cast deep gloom over the remaining household, dimming the many successes that crowned the Senator's brilliant career.

On August 23, 1916, Senator Patterson expired and with his death closed a life which had been one of action, full of achievement and full of honor. Many were the tributes paid to the departed statesman and the sorrow felt on the occasion of his demise was sincere throughout the state. Beginning life's work in a minor clerical capacity in a little country town in Indiana, he attained to one of the greatest political honors in the nation, representing his state for seven years in the highest legislative body of the world. Moreover, he was not respected and esteemed for those achievements alone, but was judged by his qualities of character and heart, which underlaid and guided all his actions, and was found not wanting. He was one of the people and remained a sincere champion of the people to the last. Therefore the inhabitants of the state of Colorado sincerely loved him and cherish his memory as that of a great and honest man who stood for their interests.

The surviving daughter of Senator Patterson is Mrs. Richard C. Campbell, of Denver. Both Mr. and Mrs. Campbell occupy an enviable position in the social circles of the capital and are ever ready to cooperate in measures undertaken for the. extension and enhancement of their city along any line, or the moral and material betterment of the people at large. To them were born three children: Thomas Patterson Campbell, who has followed the call of his country and is now serving as a lieutenant in the aviation service; Richard C. Campbell, Jr., recently a member of the Students' Army Training Corps at Dartmouth College and of the class of '21, who died at Dart- mouth. October 5, 1918; and Katharine Grafton Campbell.

AUGUST MOLANDER.

August Molander is now practically living retired. Various business interests have claimed his time and attention and whatever he has undertaken has been carried forward to successful completion. He is still the owner of valuable farming property which he rents and his energies are now largely given to service as a member of the ditch board-a service which is of a most valuable character to the community. He was born in Sweden, January 24, 1870, a son of Charles and Matilda Molander. The father was a farmer of Sweden and came to America with his famliy in the year 1886. In this country he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits and also to railroad work for a considerable period and he is now living with his son Philip upon a farm about two miles from Ault. His wife passed away in 1902 and was laid to rest in Eaton. Their family numbered the following named: Anna, who became the wife of Carl Nelson; Charles; August; Ture, who died in 1913; Oscar; Selma; Alma, the wife of Harold Balmer; and Philip, who married Hattie Swanson.

August Molander spent the first fifteen years of his life in his native country and whatever educational advantages he enjoyed were attained during that period, but his opportunities in that direction were somewhat limited and his most valuable lessons have been gained in the school of experience. At length he determined to try his fortune in the new world and with his brother Charles crossed the Atlantic. They did not tarry on the eastern coast but made their way at once into the interior of the country, settling at Oakland, Nebraska, where they began farming, meeting with substantial success in this undertaking. In the spring of 1888 August Molander

HISTORY OF COLORADO

removed to Haxtum, Colorado. In the meantime his parents had come to the new world and the father, who was a very energetic and enterprising man, began farming in Colorado, where he had better opportunities than he could secure in Europe. He took up a claim there and August Molander assisted him in the development and improvement of the farm, aiding in the arduous tasks necessary to the transformation of wild land into productive fields. He also worked at times on the railroad, but owing to the unsettled condition of the country he returned to Oakland, Nebraska, where he began stock feeding, in which business he engaged until 1892. He then returned to Colorado and in the spring of that year took up his abode at Greeley, where he made his home from 1892 until 1895. He has been interested in farm properties at Ault and Haxtum since the latter year and he also began farming at Eaton in 1895. He purchased land at Ault in 1898 and today has a valuable tract of one hundred and sixty acres there. In 1899 he purchased another quarter section from A. J. Eaton and through the intervening period has been more or less actively connected with agricultural interests. In 1901 he took up his abode at Ault and concentrated his efforts and attention upon the development and improvement of his farm, comprising three hundred and twenty acres of land. In 1913 he began feeding sheep and he purchased two hundred and forty acres additional situated about two miles north of Ault. On that property he remained for four years. In 1917, however, he left the ranch and established his home in the town and at the present time he is renting his farms, from which he derives a very substantial annual income. He is also con- nected with the Smith Lumber Company and is one of the directors of the First National Bank.

Mr. Molander was united in marriage on the 18th of February, 1903, in Oakland, Nebraska, to Miss Hilma Nelson, whose father was a farmer of that locality. Mr. and Mrs. Molander are members of the Congregational church and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. He is a director of the Ault Exchange and is interested in everything that has to do with the welfare and progress of the community in which he makes his home. He is one of the intelligent, energetic and progressive men of his community who is now serving as a member of the ditch board and his work in this connection receives almost his entire attention and is of a most valuable character. He stands for all those interests which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride and cooperates earnestly in every movement for the "general good. He finds his chief diversion in motoring. He has led a busy life, is a man of generous nature and kindly spirit, and upright principles have guided him at all points in his career. While he had many hardships and difficulties to overcome in early manhood, he has steadily advanced and today is numbered among the men of affluence in his community.

CHESTER STEPHEN MOREY.

Indefatigable industry has constituted the basic element in the notable success of Chester Stephen Morey, and combined with this has been an initiative spirit that has enabled him to formulate plans which have been carried forward through his resistless will power to successful completion. There has been no spectacular phase in his career but a steadiness and a persistency of purpose that has accomplished results and although his youthful days were passed amid pioneer surroundings in a log cabin home that had no comforts and at times almost lacked the necessities of life, he is today one of the prosperous and also one of the honcred business men of Denver, well known as the chairman of the board of directors of the Great Western Sugar Company, while for many years he has figured in commercial circles as the head of the C. S. Morey Mercantile Company.

His birth occurred upon a farm in Medina township, Dane county, Wisconsin, March 3, 1847. He had only such educational advantages as the district schools of a frontier community afforded and then he could attend only through the winter months, when his labors were not needed upon the home farm. His father had secured a claim in Dane county and the family were engaged. in the arduous task of developing wild land and transforming it into productive fields. But this meant years of continued and unremitting labor and when it seemed that the family had reached a turning point in their career leading to success the father mortgaged the farm to invest in a con- templated railroad that after a time went into bankruptcy and caused them to lose the homestead. This caused the family to seek another dwelling place and with their few possessions in a covered wagon they traveled two hundred miles to the little settlement

CHESTER S. MOREY

HISTORY OF COLORADO

of Modena, Buffalo county, Wisconsin, where they again faced the conditions of pioneer life with the development of a new farm. Their first crop there proved a bountiful one and as prices were high on account of the war this gave the family a little start. Chester S. Morey continued his education in the district schools near the new home through two winters and in the summer months aided in the labors of the fields. In January, 1864, however, the news reached the little town of Modena that it must furnish four soldiers for the army. If these were taken by draft it would probably take the heads of some of the few families in the neighborhood and to meet this contingency Mr. Morey and three young companions, all under eighteen years of age, volunteered, joining Company I of the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry. They spent a few days in barracks at La Crosse, Wisconsin, and were then sent to Madison. Mr. Morey became ill there and for a time was in a hospital, but on the 14th of June was able to rejoin his regiment, which was then before Petersburg, Virginia. He found that two of the boys who had enlisted with him had been killed and a third was wounded. Two days after reaching his regiment they went into battle, in which he narrowly escaped death. A contemporary writer has said in this connection: "His knapsack was torn from his shoulder and his waist belt severed by a bullet, which lodged in his bayonet scabbard. He took part in the battles of Strawberry Plains and Jerusalem Plankroad, after which he was again taken with severe illness, sent to City Point and thence to Emory Hospital, in Wash- ington, where he remained until November. Meanwhile his father had been drafted and sent to Sherman's army. As soon as able to march he went to the front and remained with his regiment, which was almost constantly engaged, to the close of the war. He was on the field at the surrender of Lee at Appomattox and marched in the final Grand Review at Washington. Mr. Morey was promoted to corporal and subsequently to the brevet rank of Lieutenant for gallantry in action."

When Mr. Morey returned to his home he took with him two hundred dollars which he had saved from his pay as a soldier. In the meantime his father had passed away at Savannah, Georgia, and thus the management of the farm and the support of the family devolved upon the son. He was ambitious to improve his education and saved from his earnings whatever he could. In the winter of 1865 and 1866 he was a pupil in the schools at Waterloo, Wisconsin, and in the succeeding winter became a high school student at Portage, Wisconsin. While there pursuing his studies he engaged in sawing wood evenings and mornings in order to pay for his board at his uncle's hotel. During the next winter he became a student in Eastman's Business College at Chicago, where he pursued a thorough course. He did not like farming and had a natural inclination for commercial pursuits, but he recognized that he must have adequate education to serve as a foundation upon which to build commercial success. After studying through the winter his capital was reduced to less than fifty dollars and he accepted a position as porter in the retail grocery house of Cobb & Thorne. His ahility, trustworthiness and industry won him promotion and he was given a place on the clerical force in the office. In July of that year he went upon the road as a commercial traveler, representing the young but growing wholesale grocery house of Sprague, Warner & Company of Chicago, with whom he remained until failing health compelled him to resign. He spent the winter of 1871 at Clifton Springs, New York, in order to benefit his health, and in May, 1872, · for the same reason came to Colorado. At that time his capital amounted to twenty- eight hundred dollars, the result of his savings as a commercial traveler, and he entered into partnership with W. L. Beardsly in the cattle business. Securing a broncho, he rode the range and himself branded about one thousand head of young stock, which he purchased. His health improved in the outdoor life and under the excellent climatic conditions of Colorado and in the summer of 1873 he again entered into business con- nections with Sprague Warner & Company, with headquarters at Denver, his salary to be three thousand dollars per year and expenses. His task was the development of the trade of the house west of the Missouri river. That he accomplished this task is indi- cated in the fact that his salary was annually increased until he was earning twelve thousand dollars per annum, and during eleven years' connection with the Chicago house he saved nearly twenty thousand dollars. In 1878 he made a very profitable sale of some Leadville real estate which he had acquired and this rendered him practically inde- pendent. On the 1st of January, 1881, he was admitted to a partnership in the firm of Sprague Warner & Company and a branch house was opened in Denver under his direction and management. The business was thus continued until 1884, when it was incorporated under the style of the C. S. Morey Mercantile Company, with Mr. Morey as the president, manager and the chief stockholder. Under his guidance the business has become one of the largest mercantile establishments in the west and the name of Morey is largely to the mercantile trade of Colorado what the name of Marshall Field is in the Mississippi

HISTORY OF COLORADO

valley. His resourcefulness has caused him to extend his efforts into still other fields and he is connected with various important business enterprises and projects, prominent among which is the Great Western Sugar Company, of which he was the General Manager from the beginning of the corporation, and since the death of Mr. H. O. Havemeyer, in 1907, was president and general manager up to 1916 when, due to age and ill health he retired from the presidency and became chairman of the board. In this connection he controls a mammoth industry, constituting one of the most important manufacturing interests of the state, a history of which will be found elsewhere in this work.

On the 12th of December, 1876, Mr. Morey was united in marriage to Miss Anna L. Clough, a lady of many accomplishments, who was a daughter of John A. Clough, for- merly of Chicago, but who in 1870 established a real estate and loan business in Denver. To Mr. and Mrs. Morey were born a son and a daughter, John W. and Mary L., who with the father, were called upon to mourn the death of Mrs. Morey on the 27th of Feb- ruary, 1890.

With the public life of the community Mr. Morey has also been connected. In 1891 he was chosen a member of the board of education of district No. 1 in Denver and filled the office for three years. He had long been considering the establishing of a manual training department in the Denver schools and brought the matter before the board in January, 1892, offering the following resolution: "Ordered that a special committee be appointed to investigate and consider the subject of a manual training high school, with the view of adding a department of that kind to the schools of this district and report to the board, if desirable, a plan for the establishment of such a school." This was unani- mously adopted and Mr. Morey and James B. Grant were made the committee after which Mr. Morey instituted a thorough examination of the practical side of the proposition, visiting many schools of the kind in the eastern states with a view to learning of their methods of instruction and the mechanical appliances required for their conduct. His report was so satisfactory and conclusive that the board of education accepted it unani- mously May 27, 1892, and as a result the Manual Training high school of Denver was established and has since constituted an important factor in the educational facilities of the city. Mr. Morey has always been particularly interested in charitable and benevolent projects and is continually extending a helping hand where aid and assistance are needed, yet his gifts are of a most unostentatious character, frequently known only to the recip- ient. There are many charitable organizations, too, which have benefited by his generosity and for a number of years he was president of the Charity Organization Society, which numbers about sixteen organizations. He continued to act in that capacity until 1899 and was also president of its board of trustees, in which office he served for many years. His work along charitable lines has, like his business career, been most systematically, carefully and therefore resultantly managed. For many years he has been chairman of the board of the Red Cross and very active in the work of the society. His son is now acting as manager of the Rocky Mountain division of the Red Cross. Successful as he has been, he has never allowed the accumulation of wealth to monopolize his time and attention. He has recognized his obligations to his fellowmen and, remembering his own early struggles, has ever been quick to encourage any individual who has shown a willingness to do. His friends name him as one who stands a man among men.

COLONEL ROBERT STEWART MORRISON.

Colonel Robert Stewart Morrison, the author of "Morrison's Mining Rights," which has appeared in fifteen editions, is regarded throughout the entire country as an author- ity upon the branch of jurisprudence in which he has always specialized. Colonel Morrison was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1843. He practiced in Pennsylvania until 1870 and then came to Denver and was also for a time actively engaged in practice in Georgetown. He specialized in mining law and is in active practice in Denver, having been identified with the bar of the city for forty-eight years. In the early days of his practice here he was associated with General Bela M. Hughes, one of the ablest lawyers that has ever represented the profession in this sec- tion, and who was among the earliest as well as among the foremost attorneys of Denver.

On the 24th of April. 1873, Colonel Morrison was united in marriage to Miss Edel- mira De Soto, a native of Peru, and to them were born three children: Edelmira; Ethel, the wife of Jean Francis Webb, Jr., of New York city; and Arthur R., who is now his father's partner in law practice.

HISTORY OF COLORADO

The military record of Colonel Morrison covers service for a short period in the Pennsylvania Militia as a member of the Fifteenth Regiment during the Civil War. His religous faith is that of the Catholic church.

HON. JOHN BART GEIJSBEEK MOLENAAR.

Hon. John B. Geijsbeek Molenaar, prominent in law and accountancy, has the honor of representing the royal government of The Netherlands as consul for the states of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, with headquarters at Denver.

Well known as he is in the business world, his greatest achievements are along the lines of commercial education, for he has written one of the standard works on public accountancy, has acted as instructor on this subject for many years, and has done much more toward raising the standards of his profession.

He was born April 24, 1872, at Lemele, Holland, and is the second son of Dirk Geijsbeek Molenaar, also a native of The Netherlands, who, however, now resides in Portland, Oregon. The father brought his family to America in 1893, first settling in New York city but later removing to Cincinnati, and finally to Portland, Oregon. He still lives there, a successful architect. He was married to Miss Wilhelmina Blikman-Kikkert, a daughter of Jan Blikman-Kikkert, owner of a large fleet of commercial freight vessels. She was born in the Lowlands in 1835 and passed away in Cincinnati at the age of sixty-three.

John B. Geijsbeek received his preliminary education in the excellent schools of his native country in the City of Arnhem, and then entered the famous old University of Leyden where he passed his freshman year. Upon coming to this country he ma- triculated in the law department of the Denver University from which he was graduated in 1907 with the degree of LL.B. In 1910 he received from the same institution the honorary degree of M. C. S. (Master of Commercial Science). As a young man he fitted himself to become an accountant and followed that profession exclusively for a number of years in Holland, as well as in Denver, but since his admittance to the Colorado bar he has successfully practiced both law and accountancy. He has not only a good knowledge of law but a natural intuition for legal principles and has been connected with many important cases. He is a member of the Denver Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association and is also connected with the American Bar Associa- tion. He has not only gained a prominent position in the profession but has a high standing as a financial adviser, is represented in the directorates of a number of leading corporations, and in that way also has contributed much to the upbuilding and growth of his city and state. He has been the unknown power behind the throne that has turned many an apparently inevitable commercial failure into a splendid success. His name is thus connected with many well known business enterprises in this state.

Mr. Geijsbeek is considered an authority on advanced commercial education and has lectured extensively on this subject in the United States. His reputation is well established in the west and it has been largely through his instrumentality that commercial education has been added to the curriculum of a number of universities throughout the country. He has also written extensively on this subject and his publications have found the attention due them.

Mr. Geijsbeek has gained fame as a translator and his book, "Ancient Double Entry Bookkeeping," published in 1914, enjoys a wide popularity on account of its intrinsic value and because its principles are set forth in terms which are readily understood. The work is based upon Lucas Pacioli's Italian Treatise (A. D. 1494), the earliest known writing on bookkeeping, and is enriched by reproductions, notes and abstracts from Manzoni, Peitra, Mainardi, Ympyn, Steven and Dafforne. Coming as he did from Holland twenty-five years ago without knowledge of American com- mercial practices and language, the author in his publication of "Ancient Double Entry Bookkeeping" recognized from his experience as an educator the lack of clearly expressed principles in accountancy and began researches that finally culminated in this published translation in English. It was the first time that the first known writings on this subject were published in this tongue although ages ago translations existed in the Dutch, French, Russian, German and Japanese languages.

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 3

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