History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 74

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

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EDGAR S. ST. JOHN.

Edgar S. St. John, conducting a thoroughly up-to-date business at Fort Lupton under the name of the St. John Mercantile Company, was horn in Augusta, Hancock county, Illinois, December 31, 1861, his parents being Edgar A. and Julia (Sadd) St. John, both of whom were natives of Ohio, the father dying at the age of twenty-eight years, before the birth of his son Edgar. The mother was born in Austinburg, Ohio, a place which was named in honor of some of her people. After the death of her first husband she became the wife of Rufus C. Reynolds in 1865 and in 1870 they removed to Colorado, settling on a farm where Mr. Reynolds carried on general agricultural pursuits and stock raising. His place was situated at the edge of Fort Lupton and he continued its further development and improvement throughout his remaining days. His wife died in July, 1914.

Edgar S. St. John spent his youthful days in Illinois and Colorado, being only eight years of age when brought to this state by his mother and stepfather. He completed his education in the public schools and afterward worked upon the home farm, while subsequently he took up the study of telegraphy at Brighton, Colorado. He was also employed on the section for three months. In 1884 he was advanced to the position of station agent on the Union Pacific at Fort Lupton and continued to act in that capacity until 1891, when he resigned and entered the employ of G. W. Twombly, who was pro- prietor of a general store. Such was his capability and efficiency that in June, 1895, he was admitted to a partnership by Mr. Twombly and they then carried on the business together until 1901, when Mr. St. John purchased his partner's interest in the business and changed the name to the St. John Mercantile Company. On the 17th of March, 1912, his store was burned to the ground and he lost everything, hut with characteristic energy and determination he rebuilt. The new establishment sprung Phoenix-like from its ashes and he has since carried on a growing business. He keeps a very extensive stock of general merchandise and his is one of the leading mercantile establishments in his section of the state. In 1912 he admitted his son, Edgar R., to a partnership and the two have since heen associated in the conduct of the business, which is steadily growing in volume and importance. They follow the most progressive commercial methods and at all times their course measures up to the highest ethical standards of business. He and his brother have three hundred and twenty acres of land two miles east of Fort Lupton, which they rent.

On the 6th of December. 1885, Mr. St. John was married to Miss Susie Wright, who passed away in June, 1886. In the 14th of September. 1887, he was again married, his second union being with Harriett J. Reynolds, a daughter of Reuben H. and Emily (Mer- riman) Reynolds, who were pioneer people of Illinois and always resided there. Her father died in 1900 and her mother passed away when Mrs. St. John was a small girl. Mr. and Mrs. St. John have hecome parents of four children: Julia E., who died at the age of seven years; Edgar R .; Charles W .; and Anna C.

Mr. St. John is not only a leading factor in business circles of Fort Lupton but has contributed to its progress and improvement in many other ways. He has always been a non partisan with strong prohibition tendencies, until this year, when he hecame a candidate for county clerk and recorder on the democratic ticket. He has acted as town trustee, as mayor, as president of the school board and has also served as president of the Platte Valley Municipal Irrigation District for several years. Fraternally he is

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connected with I X L Lodge, No. 70, K. P., also the Woodmen of the World, of which he is clerk, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He likewise belongs to Lupton Lodge, No. 119, A. F. & A. M .; Greeley Chapter, No. 29, R. A. M .; Greeley Commandery, No. 10, K. T .; and Bountiful Chapter, No. 72, O. E. S., of Greeley. He has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1887 and has been a teacher in Sunday schools of Colorado since reaching the age of twenty-five years and is now serving as Sunday school superintendent at Fort Lupton. He has thus taken an active and helpful part in the moral progress of the community. He has never regarded the accumulation of wealth as the sole end and aim of life, in fact has ever been cognizant of other duties and has held to high ideals, looking to the moral development and progress of the com- munity.

WALTER C. BOURNE.

The office of treasurer of Bent county is ably administered by Walter C. Bourne, who is capably discharging his duties, receiving the high commendation of the general public of his section of the state. All who have business with him are agreed as to the ability which he displays in his office and, moreover, he has many friends on account of his pleasant and obliging manner. He was born in Richland county, Illinois, June 25, 1888, his parents being Samuel T. and Malinda (Brock) Bourne. The father was an honored veteran of the Civil war, having served during that conflict with Company A of the Eleventh Missouri Infantry Regiment. His wife bore him fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, of whom our subject is the tenth in order of birth.

Walter C. Bourne attended the rural schools near his father's farm and subsequently was a high school pupil. He also attended the University of Illinois. This well fitted him for the profession of teaching and for a few years he taught school, coming to Colo- rado in 1912 and taking up his residence in Bent county. Here he entered a claim, to the improvement of which he gave his attention, and he also purchased an irrigated farm. Upon his property he made many improvements, and applying progressive methods, suc- cess attended his labors. He also gave considerable attention to the live stock business. In the fall of 1916 he was elected on the republican ticket to the office of county treas- urer and he now is up for reelection, his record well entitling him to continuance in the office.

On April 16, 1911, Mr. Bourne was united in marriage to Miss Tretha McFarlin and they have become the parents of three children, two sons and a daughter, Samuel, Walter and Tretha.

As indicated above, Mr. Bourne is a republican and ever faithful to the principles of his party, having considerable influence in its local affairs. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church and he takes a laudable part in church and charitable work. He is deeply interested in war work, thoroughly believing in the government's policy to make the world safe for democracy, and he readily gives of his means and time to all measures undertaken to win the conflict. He has many friends in Bent county and Las Animas, all of whom speak of him in the highest terms, as he is a helpful citizen, a faithful official and a true-blooded, loyal to the core American.

W. A. SNYDER.

W. A. Snyder, president of the Snyder Commission Company, with offices in the Live Stock Exchange building, is one of the prominent sheep men of the state, having extensive herds of stock upon the range and conducting a very large commission busi- ness in Denver. The story of his life record is the story of earnest progression result- ing from laudable ambition and intelligently directed effort. Mr. Snyder was born in Mankato, Kansas. September 17, 1873, a son of Samuel H. and Sarah J. (Anderson) Snyder, both of whom were natives of Virginia. They removed to Kansas in 1872 and the father became a well known stock raiser of that state. In 1891 he arrived in Colorado, settling at Fort Collins, where he resided for ten years and then removed to California, his death occurring in that state in 1915, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-four years. His widow survives and is now living in Sacramento, California, at the age of eighty. They had a family of seven children.

W. A. Snyder, the youngest son of the father's household, attended the public schools of Kansas, becoming a high school pupil in Mankato, after which he learned the live

W. A. SNYDER

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HISTORY OF COLORADO

stock business. When twenty-one years of age he worked on a farm at Fort Collins at a salary of twenty-five dollars per month and board. He then started in the live stock and ranching business on his own account in a small way and so' continued until 1908, when he removed to Denver and organized business under his own name. He main- tained uptown offices, but with the steady growth of the business he removed in 1915 to the Exchange building at the stockyards. Something of the growth of his business is indicated in the fact that at the beginning he handled about one hundred and fifty thousand head of sheep, while today he handles one million head of sheep annually. His interests were incorporated in 1917 under the name of the Snyder Commission Company, with W. A. Snyder as president and sole proprietor. He has worked his way upward entirely unassisted and is indeed a self-made man in the highest and best sense of the term, and it was largely through the activities and influence of Mr. Snyder that Denver has acquired its prominence as a sheep market. He has about sixty-five thousand sheep on the range at the present time and over one-half million pounds of wool were sheared from the fleece in 1917, bringing nearly three hundred and seventy thousand dollars.

At Fort Collins, Colorado, on the 21st of December, 1894, Mr. Snyder was married to Miss Lyda Hice, of Fort Collins, and they have become parents of a daughter and two sons. Irene, who was born in Fort Collins and was graduated from the Denver high school, is now the wife of William H. Hilbert, who is a member of the Snyder Commis- sion Company. They have one son, William Laverne, born September 12, 1918. Frank, born at Fort Morgan in 1902, was graduated from the Denver high school and is with his father in business. Walter, the youngest of the family, born in Fort Morgan in 1904, left high school in his junior year and is now a student at Northwestern Military School at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

In politics Mr. Snyder maintains an independent course. Fraternally he is a Mason and has taken the degree of the commandery and of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Denver Motor Club and also to the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and is Interested in all that has to do with the progress and welfare of his adopted city. He is a man of discriminating judgment in relation to public interests as well as to individual affairs. His enterprise and determination in business have been salient features in the attainment of his notable success. -

CHARLES A. SMITH.

Charles A. Smith is a consulting engineer of Denver whose high professional attain- ments place him in the front rank among the representatives of his chosen calling. In fact. he is one of the leading consulting engineers in the west and one of the best known mining engineers of the Rocky Mountain region, in which district he has operated from early boyhood, when he took his initial step in his business career as a worker in the mines. He has practically spent his entire life in Colorado, for he was brought to this state in 1865, when but four years of age, his birth having occurred in Chicago, Illinois, on the 18th of January, 1861. His father, the late Andrew Smith, was a native of the West Indies and was of Swiss and German lineage. He was a mining engineer by pro- fession and arrived in Colorado in 1864, after which he concentrated his energies upon mining pursuits in this state. He had already gone to California in 1849, following the discovery of gold in that state, and subsequently had spent a number of years in the Australian gold fields. In the early days he was superintendent for the Flood & O'Brien interests of California and was widely known throughout the west as a promi- nent mining man. He died in Denver in 1881, while his wife, Mrs. Minnie C. Smitlı. survived until 1886. She was of French extraction and spent her last days in Denver.

Charles A. Smith of this review was the eldest in a family of five children, four sons and a daughter. After pursuing his education in the public schools of Denver to the age of fifteen years, he started out to earn his own livelihood and was first employed at the machinist's trade and as a pressman. He worked in that way through the winter seasons. while in the summer months he was employed in the mines, and thus he became familiar through practical experience with all branches of the mining business. From the time that he attained his majority he has followed mining and was first asso- ciated with J. Alden Smith, then the best known mining engineer of the Rocky Mountain region. This connection was of great benefit to Charles A. Smith, who stands today in a most enviable and creditable position among the leading consulting engineers of the west. He is thoroughly familiar with all the involved and intricate problems of the pro- fession and his broad experience and wide knowledge enable him to speak with authority upon questions having to do with engineering projects. .

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In 1897, in Manitou, Colorado, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Minnie C. Dean, a native of New York state, and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jasper Dean, repre- sentatives of one of the old families of the Empire state, the old homestead at Bergen, Genesee county, being still occupied by relatives of Mrs. Smith, the place having been purchased from the Indians by the great-grandfather of the present generation. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born four children, three daughters and a son, Edith C., Irene C., Katherine E. and Charles A.

Mr. Smith's military career covers three years' experience as a member of Com- pany B of the state militia. He served for four years as a member of the Volunteer Fire Department of Denver and is a member of the Pioneer Firemen's Association. In politics he is a democrat and was chief criminal deputy under Sheriff E. R. Barton when Denver was a part of Arapahoe county. He spent two years as first assistant deputy. Fifty-three years have come and gone since Mr. Smith was brought to Colorado a little lad of four years, and through all the intervening period he has been an interested witness of events that have occurred and of changes that have been wrought. He has borne a most active and important part in bringing about the development of certain sections of the state and the utilization of its natural resources, and his contribution to its upbuilding has been an important and valuable one.

WILLIAM EDGAR MOSES.

William Edgar Moses, president and general manager of the Moses Land Scrip & Realty Company of Denver and one of the veterans of the Civil war, proudly wearing the little bronze button that proclaims him a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, was born in Mount Sterling, Brown county, Illinois, February 15, 1844, and in the paternal line comes of Welsh ancestry, the family having been founded in America at an early day by an ancestor who came from the little rock- ribbed country of Wales and took up his abode in Pennsylvania. It was in the latter state that Jacob Creth Moses, father of William E. Moses, was born and reared. He, too, possessed the military spirit that prompted patriotic defense of his country, for he served as a soldier of the American army in the War of 1812. He removed from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and afterward to Ohio, while in 1839 he became a resident of Brown county, Illinois, where he successfully carried on farming. He married Ann Hobbs, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and a repre- sentative of one of the old families of that state. Both have passed away. Mr. Moses died in 1874 at the age of seventy-nine years, his birth having occurred in 1795, while his wife died in 1884 at the age of eighty-one years.

William E. Moses was the youngest in their family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. He was educated in Brown county, Illinois, and his youth to the age of eighteen years was spent upon the home farm with the usual experi- ences of the farm-bred boy. At the outbreak of the Civil war his patriotic spirit was aroused and he enlisted as a member of Company E of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, with which he served for three years. After the war he completed his education in private schools and later removed to Baxter Springs, Kansas, and subsequently to Coffeyville, that state. There he successfully engaged in merchandising until 1874, when he became a resident of Joplin, Mis- souri, where he remained until 1879, and through that period was engaged in lead mining. He shipped the first car of zinc ore out of that section, the destina- tion being Elgin, Illinois. He later returned to Brown county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming until he became a resident of Leadville, Colorado, where he engaged in the land scrip and real estate business. He arrived in Denver in 1885 and has made a specialty of the land scrip business, having developed his clientage until he now handles seventy-five per cent of this business in the United States. Well defined business plans, promptly and systematically executed, have constituted the foundation of his present prosperity.

On the 28th of November, 1874, Mr. Moses was married in Coffeyville, Kansas, to Miss Ella Oppy, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Moses and Hannah (Jefferson) Oppy, the latter a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and a representa- tive of one of the old and prominent pioneer families of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Moses reside at No. 4001 West Thirtieth avenue, which property he owns.

Mr. Moses was formerly a stanch republican in politics and long supported the party, but during the past decade has given his allegiance to the democratic party. He belongs to Denver Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & A. M. He was made a Mason

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at Mount Sterling, Illinois, in 1869, and he has membership in Denver Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M .; in Colorado Commandery, No. 1, K. T., at Denver; in Colorado Consistory, S. P. R. S .; and in El Jebel Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is a mem- ber of the National Editorial Association, of the Kiwanis Club, of the Denver Civic and Commercial Club, and of the Grand Army of the Republic-associations which indicate the nature of his interests. He was a corporal of Company E of the One Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment of Illinois Infantry and is a past commander of Reno Post, No. 39, G. A. R. He is likewise a past president of the Memorial and Benevolent Association, Grand Army of the Republic, of Denver, was chief of staff to Department Commander Hollister of the Department of Colorado and Wyoming and aide-de-camp to General John E. Gilman, commander in chief in 1911. He has greatly enjoyed association with his old army comrades and he is as true and loyal to his country today as when he followed the nation's starry banner on the battlefields of the south.

THOMAS C. SMITH.

Thomas C. Smith, attorney at law practicing at Windsor, Weld county, was born in Sparta, Randolph county, Illinois, on the 17th of December, 1883. His father, Thomas. M. Smith, is also a native of that state, representing one of its old pioneer families, and there he followed farming as a life work. He was united in marriage to Sarah W. Mor- ton, a native of Pennsylvania, and in support of his family he carried on farm work in Illinois until 1908, when he removed to Colorado, establishing his home in Greeley. Here he has since resided. His wife passed away July 4, 1900. His father was one of those who laid down their lives on the altar of their country during the Civil war.

The youthful days of Thomas C. Smith were passed in Sparta, Illinois, and the public schools of that place afforded him his early educational privileges, which were supple- mented by study in the Presbyterian College at Monmouth, Illinois. He there won his Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1907. He afterward pursued a course of study in De Paul University, a Catholic school of Chicago, and there he took up the study of law and was graduated as a member of the class of 1909. For a year thereafter he was employed on the Chicago Inter Ocean and on the expiration of that period he removed westward to Larimer county, Colorado, entering the office of Paul W. Lee at Fort Collins. There he prepared for the state bar examination, remaining for eight months in that position. He was afterward admitted to practice and came to Windsor in 1910. He has followed his profession here ever since. He is serving as town attorney of Windsor and he was at one time a candidate for the office of county judge on the republican ticket. This was in 1912.

On the 28th of October, 1915. Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Lillian M. O'Neil and to them has been born a son, Thomas C., Jr., whose birth occurred Novem- ber 28, 1916. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Royal Arch Chapter, the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in these organizations has held office. In politics he has always been a stanch supporter of republican principles. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. At present he is food administrator for the Windsor district and is chairman of the Windsor branch of the Red Cross.

JACOB W. THOMSON.

Jacob W. Thomson, filling the office of county commissioner in Pueblo county, has in various ways left the impress of his individuality and ability upon his adopted city, county and state. He was born in Bureau county, Illinois, on the 11th of November, 1854, and is a son of Jacob T. and Pernina (Wise) Thomson. The father was a farmer by occupation and thus provided for the support of his family, which numbered four sons and two daughters, of whom Jacob W. was the fourth in order of birth. Both the father and mother have now departed this life.

Jacob W. Thomson was educated in rural schools and has learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience. He early became acquainted with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops and through the period of his youth aided his father in the work of the fields and in fact continued his active assistant in carrying on the home farm until the father's death, which occurred in 1876, when Jacob W. Thomson was a young man of twenty-two years. The favorable reports which reached him con-

JACOB W. THOMSON

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cerning the opportunities of the west led him to seek a home in Colorado in 1878, in which year he located in the vicinity of Pueblo, where he engaged in sheep raising for a decade. He then turned his attention to the cattle business, which he continuously and successfully followed until he was elected to his present office in 1911 for a four years' term. He made so excellent a record through the prompt and faithful discharge of his. duties during the first term that he was then reelected and continues as the incumbent in the position. When chosen to office he turned over his cattle interests to his son and is concentrating his entire time and attention upon his official duties. He had pre- viously been called to public office, having in 1909-10 represented his district in the house. of representatives of the Colorado legislature. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and he has made an excellent record by his loyalty to high political standards and his identifica- tion with movements bringing about practical reform and improvement in political affairs.

On the 11th of March, 1880, at Princeton, Illinois, Mr. Thomson was united in marriage to Miss Flora B. Boggs and to them have been born two children: Arthur T., who married Nina Churcher; and Harry R., who married Mildred J. Jones and they have two children, Harry Raymond, Jr., and Arthur J.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Thomson is a Mason and has attained the Knight. Templar degree of the York Rite. He is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and exemplifies in his life the beneficent spirit which underlies those organ- izations. He has many sterling qualities and the worth of his character commends him to the regard and confidence of all who know him. He has a wide acquaintance in this. section of the state, where he has now lived for four decades, and his public record is. indeed commendable. He was one of the board of county commissioners which erected the present new county building-regarded as one of the finest in the west-and in all public affairs he stands loyally for progress and improvement, never countenancing useless expenditure but at the same time not believing in that retrenchment which. hampers substantial advancement.

CHARLES S. CANN.

Charles S. Cann, conducting business in Denver as a land and investment broker, was born in Pierceville, Iowa, December 7, 1861, and is a son of Noah and Mary Jane (Hurd) Cann. The father, who was a native of England, came to America when twenty- seven years of age and took up his abode in Iowa, where he resided until 1863, when he removed to Denver, Colorado, casting in his lot with the earliest residents of this city. In fact, Denver at that time was a straggling western frontier town and for a few years he worked at the blacksmith's trade, after which he turned his attention to cattle raising, in Arapahoe county, about thirty miles from Denver. He successfully con- ducted his cattle and sheep raising business until 1913, when he retired from active life and removed to San Diego, California, where he continued to make his home until his death, which occurred on the 9th of November, 1917, when he had reached the ven- erable age of eighty-seven years. His wife was a native of Devonshire, England, where they were married. She became the mother of eleven children, six sons and five daugh- ters. of whom two of the sons are yet living, Charles S. and Fred W. The mother passed away in Arapahoe county, Colorado, September 14, 1908.

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History of Colorado; Volume II, Part 74

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