History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 72

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

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In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus W. Harvey were eight children, five of whom have passed away, while the three still living are: Mrs. Emma McDonald, of Des Moines, Iowa; Rufus W., whose home is in Marshalltown, Iowa; and George H., of this review. The last named in his youthful days was a pupil in the public schools of St. Louis and afterward attended Iowa College at Grinnell, Iowa, but left the latter institution before graduation. He then accepted a position as traveling salesman for a wholesale house of St. Louis, his territory extending westward to Denver. He gave up his position in 1878 to locate in Denver in order that he might engage in the whole- sale cigar business here, and he conducted his interests along that line in a profitable manner until 1893, when, like hundreds of other business men, he was forced to sus- pend on account of the widespread financial panic. He displayed a Spartanlike courage, however, and met misfortune with a smiling face. He felt that opportunity was still before him and turned his attention to the merchandise brokerage business. In 1907 he had so far recuperated from his losses that he had discharged every financial obliga- tion against him and he then established the Harvey Glove Company for the manufacture of men's leather and kid gloves. He started the business in a small way but soon developed his trade, owing to his expert salesmanship. It was not long before the business demanded more help and larger quarters and since then it has grown to very extensive proportions, employing today a well organized force of operatives in the factory, which is a well equipped building supplied with modern machinery for manu- facturing gloves on an extensive scale. The house is today represented on the road by a large force of traveling salesmen and the Harvey glove is now known not only throughout the west but to a large extent throughout the country, and the name is recognized as a synonym for honest and desirable merchandise. It is not many years ago since Mr. Harvey stood amid the wreck of his fortunes, but today he is one of the substantial business men of the city, having gained a fortune that can be expressed in six figures. Moreover, it is the evidence of his life of well directed energy, of keen business insight and of unfaltering perseverance and shows what may be accomplished through individual effort intelligently put forth.

On the 9th of June, 1875, Mr. Harvey was married to Miss Mary L. Lyman, of Kellogg, Iowa, a daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Addison Lyman. They were the parents of four children. George H., who was born in Kellogg, Iowa, March 9, 1876, is a graduate of Grinnell College of Grinnell, Iowa. He married Miss Evelyn McCoy -and is engaged in business with his father. Mrs. George H. Sethman, born in Denver, died in this city in 1901, leaving a son, Harvey T. Sethman, who was a student in the University of Colorado and is now a member of the military cadets at Boulder, Colorado. Frederick A., born in Kellogg, Iowa, in 1884, was graduated from the Denver schools and the Iowa College, which he attended for three years, and afterward took post graduate work at Berkeley, California, and for one year in Goettingen, Germany. He is now professor of physics at Syracuse, New York. He is married and has two children, Margaret and Mary. Grace M. Harvey, born in Denver in 1892, is at home. On June 12, 1918, Mrs.

GEORGE H. HARVEY

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Harvey passed away in Denver, the immediate cause of her death being heart failure. Only a few moments before her passing, she had been talking to her husband and her sudden demise was not only a great shock to her family but to the many friends she had, all of whom esteemed her as a woman of the highest traits of heart and character.

Mr. Harvey was at one time a member and second lieutenant of Company D of the Colorado National Guard and later was elected captain on two different occasions. For three years he served as president of the examining board for officers and later was brigade inspector with the rank of major. For many years he occupied the position of trustee of the town of Highland, then a suburb of Denver. He is now a director of the State Bureau of Child and Animal Protection and is interested in all those forces which make for better citizenship, for higher ideals among men and for progressiveness along all the lines which have to do with public welfare. He is a Master Mason and his life is further actuated by his belief in the teachings of the Congregational church. Coming to Denver in early manhood, he has made for himself a most creditable place in its business circles and has given proof of the force of his character and his ability by wresting fortune from the hands of fate.

GUY M. WEYBRIGHT.

Among the efficient county officials of Otero county is Guy M. Weybright, who is now ably discharging the duties of county treasurer. He was born in West Milton, Ohio, April 24, 1878, his parents being John E. and Angeline (Niswonger) Weybright. The father is successfully following agricultural pursuits and is highly respected and esteemed in his community. Both he and his wife are living and they are the parents of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, of whom Guy M. Weybright is the oldest.

Guy M. Weybright attended the public and high schools of his native town in early life and continued his studies in the Ohio Normal University and in the University of Colorado. He came to this state in May, 1905, and locating in Rocky Ford, he there taught school for about seven years, becoming principal of the school system of that town. Subsequently he served as water commissioner for District No. 17 for two and one-half years and later spent a year and a half as chief inspector and field man for Crutchfield & Woolfolk of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania. He was afterward connected with the cantaloupe business for a year and a half in general supervision work in California and Colorado. In the fall of 1916 he was elected to the office of county treasurer for a two-year term and has since ably administered the affairs of the office.

On the 29th of August, 1899, Mr. Weybright was united in marriage to Elizabeth S. DuBois. Politically he is a democrat and is prominent in his party, having attended county and state conventions. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church and fraternally he is a Mason, having attained the Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees. He is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is helpfully interested in the development and growth of his community, his county and state and readily supports measures undertaken in behalf of the general welfare. Since this country has entered the world conflict he has given much of his time and means to further war service work, thoroughly upholding the policy of democracy which is pursued by the government. He is fond of out-of-door life and thus finds his recreation and pastime.

ORAM EDWARD ADAMSON.

Oram Edward Adamson, a commission merchant of Denver, who has long been a resident of the city and has prospered in his business undertakings, was born in Paulsboro, New Jersey, March 18, 1861. His father, Oram Adamson, was a native of Scotland and came to America with his parents when a young lad. He was reared and educated in New Jersey and took up the business of weaving. Dur- ing the Civil war he responded to the call of his adopted country for aid to pre- serve the Union and remained at the front throughout the period of hostilities, after which he continued to make his home in Paulsboro, New Jersey, to the time of his demise. He married Miss Mary Ann Price, who was descended from royalty,

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her people, however, being exiled. She became the mother of seven children, four sons and three daughters.

Oram Edward Adamson, who was the sixth in order of birth in the family, was educated in the public schools of his native city to the age of twelve years, when he started out to provide for his own support. He was first employed in buying and selling vegetables iu Savannah, Georgia. The family was broken up after the father's death and O. E. Adamson went south to Savannah, where he engaged in the vegetable business for three years. He then returned to New Jersey and secured employment at Gibbstown in the Du Pont powder mills. There he remained for three years, at the end of which time he removed westward, arriv- ing in Denver in April, 1880. He was an entire stranger, knowing no one in the city. After a brief residence here he embarked in business as a wholesale and retail distributor of vegetables, beginning, however, in a very small way with a cash capital of but two dollars and a half. With that humble start, however, he established and built up the largest commission and produce business in Denver, his trade now extending to neighboring states, while today he employs on an average of twelve people and is represented on the road by two traveling salesmen. . He has not reached the goal of success by leaps and bounds but by the steady progression which results from the use of every opportunity and of every hour. His has been a most active career and the results achieved show what may be accomplished through individual effort intelligently directed.

Mr. Adamson was married in Denver in 1887 to Miss Mary E. Purinton, a native of Kansas and a daughter of George and Helen (Morse) Purinton, who were representatives of old Maine and Boston, Massachusetts, families, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Adamson have become parents of three children but two of the number have passed away, the living daughter being Arabelle.

In politics Mr. Adamson is a republican and has served as city alderman of Denver for three years and for one term represented his district in the state legislature. He was also mayor of Barnum and president of School District No. 2. He was likewise president of the board of aldermen and of the school board of Barnum and has given active aid and cooperation to many plans and movements which have been of direct benefit and value to the communities which he has represented. Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to Temple Lodge, No. 84, A. F. & A. M., the Royal Arch chapter, the Knight Templar commandery and El Jebel Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also has membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and belongs to the Denver Athletic Club and the Denver Civic and Commercial Association. He turns to hunting, fishing and travel for diversion and recreation. He occupies an attractive home at No. 2219 East Colfax avenue, which property he owns and which is one of the visible evidences of his life of well directed energy and thrift. Long a resident of this section of the state, he is widely known, his many friends entertaining for him the warmest regard.

GEORGE A. HILL.

George A. Hill, well known in newspaper circles as editor of the Ault Adver- tiser, published at Ault, Colorado, was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, October 19, 1869, a son of J. A. and Maria (Clark) Hill, who were natives of New York. The father was a farmer by occupation and about 1859 established his home in Jo Daviess county, where he cultivated a tract of land until 1871. He then went to Cass county, Iowa, where he purchased a farm which he further developed and improved for many years, but finally retired and removed to Massena, Iowa, where his remaining days were passed. His death there occurred in 1915 and his wife, surviving for only a brief period, passed away in 1916.

George A. Hill was reared and educated largely in Cass county, Iowa, and took up the profession of teaching, which he followed from 1887 until 1898, impart- ing readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired and proving a worthy addition to the teaching forces of that state. He also served as post- master of Massena, Iowa, during that time and learned the printer's trade while administering the postoffice. He thus worked into the newspaper business and published a paper at Massena until 1908 when he came to Colorado, settling at Berthoud. There he continued in newspaper work for two years and on the expiration of that period removed to Ault, Weld county, where he purchased tlie Ault Advertiser, which he has since successfully conducted. He has a splendidly

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equipped plant, does a general job business and enjoys a large patronage. His paper is neat and attractive in appearance and is devoted to the dissemination of general and local news. It stands stanchly for every interest of the community and his paper has been an influencing factor on the side of progress and improve- ment in Weld county.

On the 28th of February, 1900, Mr. Hill was united in marriage to Miss Bessie Triplett, a daughter of Julius and Ella (Coddington) Triplett, who were natives of Illinois and became pioneer farming people of Cass county, Iowa, where they resided for many years. They now make their home in Oklahoma and Mr. Triplett has retired from active business life. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been horn two children: Gertrude C., a graduate of the Ault high school of the class of 1918; and Howard J., who is attending school.

Mr. Hill served as mayor of Ault for three years, to which position he was elected without opposition. At the present time he is a member of the school hoard and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, also of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias lodges, while his religious faith is that of the Congregational church. He has indeed taken an active and helpful part in community interests, making his paper at all times the champion of progress and improvement along material, intellectual, social, political and moral lines. Aside from his newspaper he has other business connections, being interested in oil as a salesman and broker, and he also owns farm lands in Weld county, from which he derives a substantial and gratifying income. Since starting out in the business world on his own account he has worked his way steadily upward and his persistency of purpose, his sound judgment and his unfaltering enterprise have gained for him a comfortable com- petency, while the methods which he has pursued have won for him the con- fidence and goodwill of all with whom he has been brought in contact.

HON. LEDRU R. RHODES.

Hon. Ledru R. Rhodes occupies a central position on the stage of public activity in Larimer county as an attorney at law of Fort Collins and editor of The Democrat, there published. He was born in Licking county, Ohio, February 12, 1849, a son of Anthony G. and Anna (Cornell) Rhodes, who were natives of the Buckeye state. The father was a farmer in Ohio throughout the greater part of his life but went to California in 1852, spending three years on the Pacific coast, after which he returned to Ohio and gave his remaining days to agricultural interests, passing away ahout 1878. His widow survived until 1900.

Ledru R. Rhodes was educated in the district schools of Licking county, Ohio, and never had the opportunity of attending school after reaching the age of fifteen years, but in the school of experience has learned many valuable lessons, heing an apt pupil in that way. Before he reached the age of sixteen he was teaching school in Franklin county, Ohio, following that profession during the winter of 1864-5. In the latter year he went to Williamsburg, Iowa, where he taught school until 1868, when he became a student in a law office at Marengo, Iowa, studying with the firm of Martin & Murphy. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar and in 1871 he went to Fremont, Nebraska, where he practiced law for a year. In the spring of 1872 he arrived in Fort Collins, Larimer county, Colorado, where he opened a law office in 1873. Five years later, his fellow townsmen, having recognized his ability, his fidelity to duty and his public-spirited citizenship, elected him to the office of state senator from his district and he sat in the second and third general assemblies of the state. In 1885 he was elected district attorney of the second judicial district, comprising Arapahoe, Weld and Larimer counties, and occupied that position in an acceptable manner until 1889. During this term, or in 1886, he con- victed a man, who was the only man ever hung by judicial sentence in Arapahoe, now Denver, county. His important public service has brought him into connection with many of the prominent men of the state, who have ever recognized in him a peer and who have ever valued his friendship. During his service as state senator Horace A. W. Tabor was lieutenant governor of Colorado and therefore presided over the senate. Among his colleagues of the upper house were the Wolcott brothers, James Maxwell of Boulder, James Freeman of Weld county, A. W. Corder of Pueblo, Judge Weston of Leadville, Mr. Webster of Park county, Colonel Jacobson of Denver, Mr. Peck and A. H. DeFrance of Golden, Colorado, and Merrick, Rogers and Sweet, of Colorado Springs. In 1890 Mr. Rhodes went to Salt Lake City, where he practiced law until 1902, or

PARhades

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for a period of twelve years, after which he returned to Fort Collins, where he has resumed the active work of the profession. In 1877 he was attorney for the railroad built through Fort Collins and secured the right of way from Longmont to Cheyenne. In the same year he, with others, established The Courier of Fort Collins and in 1882 he purchased the paper, which he conducted for some time. While in Utah during the presidential campaign of 1892 he published the Ogden Post and he also made campaign speeches throughout the state in the interests of the democratic party, associated with William King, who is now United States senator from Utah. Thus in various localities in which he has resided he has had important part in shaping public thought and action. Since his return to Fort Collins he has made a specialty of irrigation law, and he again entered the newspaper field when in 1916 he established The Larimer County Democrat, which he is still publishing and editing.

Mr. Rhodes has been married twice. In January, 1874, he wedded Elsbeth Cowen and to them was born a daughter, Helene, now residing in Winslow, Arizona. She is the mother of four children, the eldest being twenty years of age. Mrs. Rhodes passed away in 1885 and in 1887 Mr. Rhodes was married to Luella M. Mason, the widow of Joe Mason, the founder of Fort Collins. Mrs. Rhodes is half owner of The Democrat and devotes all of her time to the paper. She has been on the executive committee of the democratic party for fifteen years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes are most earnest workers in behalf of democratic principles and his work in behalf of the party has been far-reaching, beneficial and resultant. While he was in the senate in 1881, at the request of residents of Denver, he put a bill through the senate allowing the city of Denver to buy one hundred and sixty acres of land, which is now the City Park. He prepared the bill that led to the purchase of this property, which was school land. He also secured the first appropriation for the building of the Agricultural College at Fort Collins.

Mr. Rhodes joined Masonic Lodge, No. 5, of Denver, in 1885. In 1915 he became a member of the Methodist church and during the last three years has delivered over seventy-five sermons and addresses in northern Colorado. Previous to that time he had little use for churches but his views radically changed and he has done much important work for the upbuilding of the cause of religion in the last few years. He and his wife and Peter Anderson are the only residents of Fort Collins who were living here in 1872. Mr. Rhodes is now seventy years of age and yet he tries more irrigation cases than all of the attorneys of Fort Collins put together and has more cases in the supreme court than half of the Fort Collins bar. While he has reached the Psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten, in spirit, in interests and activities he seems yet in his prime. Age need not become a period of uselessness or inactivity. There are men whose strength, mental and moral, increases as the years go by, enabling them to give out of their rich stores of wisdom and experience for the benefit of others. Such is the record of Hon. Ledru R. Rhodes, a man whose life has been one of benefit and usefulness to his fellowmen and whose enterprise and progressive spirit at the present time should put to shame many a man of less resolute will who has grown weary of the struggles and burdens of life and would relegate to others the duties that he should perform.

JOHN A. C. KRETSCHMER.

John A. C. Kretschmer, who is engaged in blacksmithing in Pueblo, was born in the city where he now resides, his birthplace being where the Labor Temple now stands. His natal day was January 11, 1881, and his parents were Charles and Mary A. (McLaughlin) Kretschmer. His father is one of the old pioneer set- tlers of Pueblo, arriving here about 1870. He has long figured as one of the most representative men of his locality and has contributed much to the pioneer development and later progress of the city. He was married here to Mary A. Mclaughlin, whose father was at one time a trader with the Indians in this section of the state. Mr. Kretschmer is still working at his trade in Pueblo and is numbered among its representative pioneers, his memory forming a connecting link between the primitve past and the progressive present. To him and his wife were born five sons and six daughters, of whom one son and four daughters died in infancy.

John A. C. Kretschmer, who was the fourth in order of birth, pursued his early education in a Sisters' school or convent and was also a student in the Cen- tennial school. He afterward spent eighteen months as an employe in the post- office and later learned the business of wagon making and blacksmithing under the direction of his father, thus acquiring practical knowledge of the trade, in

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which he has developed a high degree of efficiency. His father had his first black- smithing shop where the Pueblo Savings & Trust Company now stands at the corner of Third and Main streets. It was one of the pioneer establishments of the town. The father had come from Breslau, Germany, and had traveled westward across the continent with ox teams. He left Germany because that country declared war on Denmark, taking his departure for Quebec while his regiment was on its way to the front. He was opposed to the militarism that dominated the country at that period as at the present, and he sought his home in a land under demo- cratic rule. On reaching the American coast he traveled by rail to Omaha, Nebraska, and thence continued his journey with ox teams to Denver. The caravan with which he traveled carried no weapons. They endured many hardships but ultimately reached their destination in safety. Mr. Kretschmer continued in Denver for about two years and then removed to Pueblo. There are few residents of the city who were here at that time. In fact, he is one of the oldest of the surviving pioneers and he and his family went through all of the hardships and privations of frontier life. At that period coal was hauled from Pennsylvania and sold at seventy-five dollars per ton. Mr. Kretschmer became the shoer of the oxen that were used in work in this section and also shod the stage-coach horses in his smithy. As the years have passed he has continued his efforts along the line of his trade and he and his son, John A. C. Kretschmer, are still connected in business, engaged in wagon making and blacksmithing.

John A. C. Kretschmer has devoted his life to the family. He educated his three brothers and he has always worked with his father in connection with the family interests. In his political views John A. C. Kretschmer is a democrat and was at one time a candidate for the office of city commissioner and also a candidate for the office of county assessor. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church and he has attained the fourth degree in the Knights of Columbus. He turns to golf for recreation and greatly enjoys the sport, holding membership in the Golf Club. The family is well known in Pueblo and they have acquired considerable property as the years have passed on, owing to their unremitting industry and their sound investments.

CHARLES J. GILKISON.

Charles J. Gilkison, a wholesale produce merchant of Denver, was born in Nevada, near Central City, Colorado, on the 15th of August, 1870. His father, the late Appleton T. Gilkison, was a pioneer of Colorado but was born in Ohio and belonged to one of the old families of that state, of Scotch and Dutch descent. He took up the business of mining in early life but afterward turned his attention to agricultural pursuits in Larimer county, Colorado, and resided at Fort Collins at the time of his death. In politics he was originally a republican but in later years supported the democratic party and was somewhat active in political circles and in civic matters. He was a son of James Gilkison, a Civil war soldier, who was killed in battle. The death of Appleton T. Gilkison occurred January 28, 1917, as the result of an automobile accident, when he was seventy years of age. His wife bore the maiden name of Margaret J. Dalley and was born in Canada of Scotch-Irish parentage. She came to Colorado with her parents, William and Elizabeth Dalley, who were pioneer settlers of Gilpin county and afterward became residents of Boulder county, Colorado. Mr. and Mrs. Gilkison were twenty-one and sixteen years of age respectively at the time of their marriage and they became the parents of six children, all of whom are living, Charles J. being the eldest. The others are: William F., a merchant of Fort Collins, Colorado; Rose, now Mrs. Frank Woods, of Sedalia, Colorado; Ida, who is Mrs. E. A. Schlichter, of Fort Collins; Lena, now Mrs. C. R. Jones, of Fort Collins; and Grace, now Mrs. Alexander G. Hutton, of Fort Col- lins. The mother passed away in 1911 at the age of fifty-nine years.

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 72

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