USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume II > Part 91
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William E. Collett acquired his education in the public and high schools of Monroe, Ohio, and in the Ohio Wesleyan University of Delaware, Ohio. His early life to the age of sixteen years was spent upon the home farm, but shortly before the death of his father the family removed to the village, where Mr. Collett attended the high school. At the age of twenty-one he started out to provide for his own support. He turned to the ministry, hoping to make his life work of benefit to mankind, and he became con- nected with the Central Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was identified with the ministry of Ohio for five years and then on account of ill health was obliged to remove to the west. Accordingly he made Colorado his destination and on the 29th of June, 1892, reached this state. For three years he resided at Holyoke and later was a resident of La Junta, of Durango and of Leadville, Colorado. During those periods he was engaged in preaching as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and on the 7th of January, 1904, he was called to his present work, in which he has since continuously, actively and successfully engaged, being now the efficient general secretary of the Colorado Prison Association. In this connection he publishes biennial reports of his work. He has been a most close and discriminating student of
REV. WILLIAM E. COLLETT
Vol. II-41
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sociology and of conditions bearing upon the criminal class, with a view to their regen- eration and uplift. He has also served for five years as executive secretary of the Charity Organization Society, which later was reorganized as the United Charities of Denver, and this in turn was converted into the Denver Federation for Charity and Philanthropy. He is likewise a member of the City Federation of Social Welfare in Denver, is a member of the Colorado Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church and it was at the request of the board of directors of the Colorado Prison Association that he was appointed to the prison work in which he is now engaged and in which he is serving for the fifteenth year.
On the 2d of November, 1887, in Delaware, Ohio, Rev. Collett was united in marriage to Miss Cora Viola McElroy, of Delaware, Ohio, her marriage being celebrated in the same room in which her birth occurred. She was reared and educated in Delaware and after completing the high school course continued her studies in the College of Delaware. She is a daughter of Amelza and Amelia F. (Butts) McElroy, both of whom were representatives of old families of the Buckeye state. The McElroys were the first settlers of Delaware and were the manufacturers of the old McElroy farm wagon. Milo G. McElroy, the grandfather of Mrs. Collett, presented the trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University, an institution of the Methodist church, with a large tract of ground which is now the campus of the school, giving to them a ninety-nine year lease and thus per- petuating the college for all time. To Rev. and Mrs. Collett was born a daughter, Carrie Marie, whose birth occurred in Tedrow, Ohio, July 8, 1890, and who is now the wife of Roy Tyler Kerr of the Hermosa ranch at Durango, Colorado, and a descendant of Presi- dent Tyler in the maternal line. He comes of a family of noted educators and one of his uncles was the founder of the University of Eastern Tennessee.
In his fraternal relations Rev. Collett has been an Odd Fellow since 1888, having been initiated into the order at Tedrow, Ohio. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. He enjoys hunting and motoring, finding great pleasure in getting out into the open. Theodore Roosevelt has said: "In all the world the thing supremely worth having is the opportunity, coupled with the capacity, to do well and worthily a piece of work, the doing of which shall be of vital significance to mankind." This opportunity has come to Rev. Collett and his work has been of the greatest possible value because of the earnestness of his purpose, his zeal and the intelligence which directs his efforts. He believes with Lincoln, "There is something better than making a living-making a life," and, feeling that in every individual there is inherent a spark of good and a possibility for the development of true manliness, he has made wise and strong appeal to those who have departed from the beaten path and his labors have not been denied the full harvest nor the aftermath.
HON. W. LETCHER STAMPER.
Hon. W. Letcher Stamper, attorney at law, practicing at the Denver bar. has also been quite well known in connection with his active service along political lines. He is ever found to be a stalwart champion of any cause which he espouses and he puts forth most earnest and effective effort toward securing the adoption of the principles in which he believes. Mr. Stamper comes to Colorado from Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Wolfe county in the latter state, December 20, 1856. He is a descendant of that distinguished divine, Rev. Jonathan Stamper, of Kentucky, who was truly a southern cavalier and died some time ago at Springfield, Illinois. His father was William M. Stamper, a representative of one of the old families of Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Wolte county, February 28, 1831. His ancestors settled in Virginia prior to the Revo- futionary war and the family has long been connected with the south. William M. Stamper was a planter and an extensive dealer in-live stock. He made his home in Wolfe county throughout his entire life and became an influential factor in democratic circles there, doing much to further the interests of his party in state and nation. He was also a supporter of civic interests, giving earnest aid and cooperation to many movements which were of direct benefit to his community. For a number of years he occupied the position of county superintendent of schools and he also served as sheriff of Wolfe county. In his business affairs he met with a fair measure of success. His religious faith was that of the Baptist church and his life exemplified the teachings of Christianity. He died April 17, 1868, at the age of but thirty-seven years. His wife prior to her marriage was Miss Rachel Lacey, who was born in Wolfe county, March 16 1831. her ancestors having been early residents of both Virginia and Kentucky, but the
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family is of English extraction. She became the mother of five sons, all of whom reached adult age, W. Letcher of this review being the first-born. He has four brothers who are yet living. His brother, Thomas F. Stamper, is a resident of Campton, Kentucky, and has been in civil office for the past eighteen years. James Harlan, a resident of Campton, was at one time in the wholesale grocery business and also engaged in farming, while at the present time he is a well known oil magnate who has attained notable wealth. Andrew Howard is an attorney who through the greater part of his life has filled public office and is now located at Campton. Greenbery is engaged in the practice of law at Campton and easily takes rank as one of the ablest members of the bar of eastern Kentucky. Mrs. Rachel (Lacey) Stamper died October 30, 1903, at the old home in Kentucky, when seventy-two years of age.
W. Letcher Stamper began his education in the public schools of Wolfe county, Kentucky, and afterward had the benefit of instruction in some of the best schools in that state. He spent his time upon the home farm to the age of eighteen years, when he entered upon educational work, taking up the profession in his native state. He was principal of The Ladies Academy at Peach Orchard, Lawrence county, Kentucky, for two years and afterward was elected superintendent of the Collins Institute in the Chickasaw Nation of the Indian Territory. He served as superintendent there for a period of four years and afterward became president of the Corvallis College at Corvallis, Montana. Since that time he has been actively engaged in the practice of law. He entered upon the practice of the profession at Campton, Kentucky, and in 1906 removed to Denver and has since followed the profession in Colorado. He prepares his cases with great thoroughness and care, is logical in his argument, clear in his reasoning and sound in his deductions. He is a director, vice president and attorney for the Midwest Petroleum Company of Denver. It is not strange to say of Mr. Stamper, since he came from Ken- tucky, that his hobby is horses and one of his greatest pleasures comes to him through horseback riding.
On the 4th of April. 1911, at Dalhart, Texas, Mr. Stamper was united in marriage to Miss Georgia Center, a native of Tennessee and a daughter of the late Rev. Francis K. Center, a Methodist minister, whose wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Willis Robinson and was a member of one of the old families of Tennessee. Both Mr. and Mrs. Center have passed away. Mrs. Stamper is a cousin of the late DeWit Center, who was appointed by the federal government at the close of the Civil war to the position of governor of Tennessee and was greatly beloved by the Confederate soldiers on account of the con- sideration shown them in taking the oath of allegiance to the government.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Stamper is a Knight of Pythias. In politics he has always been an earnest democrat but never an office seeker, and the only political posi- tion that he has filled was that of police judge of Campton, Kentucky. In 1912, when Governor Harmon of Ohio was making his presidential race, Mr. Stamper was the west- ern manager and made addresses not only in Colorado but throughout the west and southwest. In 1916 he was an alternate delegate to the national democratic convention held at St. Louis, Missouri, and he worked during that campaign under the direction of the democratic national committee, with headquarters in Chicago, his territory being the states of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, and at the election every state in which he labored gave strong support to President Wilson. His religious faith is that of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church, South, and he has taken an active and helpful interest in church work.
Mr. Stamper, by industry and economy has identified himself with all the interests of Colorado and has left his impress upon same. He is unusually active in everything that has for its object the betterment of conditions in his state. He is in great demand for gatherings all over the country where great and economic questions are to be discussed. While he is over the draft age, he is helping in every way possible to win the war. He has the respect and confidence of everyone who knows him, and easily takes rank with the leading men of his commonwealth.
JOSEPH W. HAWLEY.
Joseph W. Hawley, an active member of the Colorado bar practicing at Trinidad, where he is also filling the office of district attorney, was born in Topeka, Kansas, on the 6th of May, 1882, a son of Theodore S. and Margaret M. ( Miller) Hawley. The father was a Presbyterian minister, devoting his life to the work of preaching the gospel. The family came to Colorado in 1900, settling at Trinidad, and for a number of years the father was actively identified with the moral progress of the
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community but passed away on the 20th of March, 1914. He is survived by his wife and their family of six children, of whom Joseph W. Hawley is the second in order of birth.
In the public schools of Omaha, Nebraska, Joseph W. Hawley largely acquired his preliminary education, passing from one grade to another until he had com- pleted the high school course. He next entered Coe College at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1904. The following year, having become a resident of Las Animas county, Colorado, he was appointed to the office of clerk of the county court and continued to occupy that position in a most acceptable manner until 1911. In the meantime he had studied law under private instruction and after thoroughly mastering the principles of jurisprudence was admitted to the bar in June, 1908. With his retirement from the office of clerk of the county court he was made register of the United States land office at Pueblo and occupied that position from 1911 until 1915. He then returned to Trinidad and is concentrating his efforts and attention upon profes- sional duties. In November, 1916, he was elected to the office of district attorney for a four years' term and is proving most capable and faithful in that position.
On the 2d of August, 1913, Mr. Hawley was united in marriage to Miss Edith G. Highy. They hold membership in the Presbyterian church and in social circles occupy an enviable position.
M. Hawley is well known in fraternal connections, being a past master of Trinidad Lodge, No. 89, A. F. & A. M., and a member of the Elks and the Royal Arcanum. In the last named he is a past grand regent of the state. He belongs to the Trinidad Country Club and to the Trinidad Club and he has membership in the Chamber of Commerce, cooperating heartily in all well defined plans put forth by the organization for the benefit of the community. His political allegiance has ever been given to the republican party and while a firm believer in its prin- ciples, he places the general good before partisanship. He is now acting as gov- ernment appeal agent for Las Animas county and he is one of the Four Minute men. He has closely studied the situation affecting the country at the present hour, and actuated by a most loyal and patriotic spirit, is putting forth every possible effort to advance the nation's interests and welfare.
THOMAS A. IRELAND.
Thomas A. Ireland has long been a resident of Colorado and now makes his home at Windsor, Weld county. He controls important farming interests which have con- tributed to the development of the section of the state in which he lives. A native of West Virginia, he was born in the year 1870 and is a son of James Franklin and Geniza (Law) Ireland. The father is now living retired but for many years was identified with farming interests and for a short time with milling. He removed to Greeley, Colo- rado, in 1880 and there successfully conducted business for a considerable period. His wife is a woman of most kind and genial disposition and has won many friends. Both are very devoted members of the Methodist church and they are now living in Eaton, Mr. Ireland having retired from active business life. Their children are four in number, namely: Thomas A., of this review; Henry, who resides in Greeley; Inda, the wife of Levi Dickerson, of Evans, hy whom she has two children; and Osee, who is the wife of Charles Dentry, of Eaton, and has five children.
Thomas A. Ireland was but ten years of age when the family home was established in Greeley and there he continued his education, heing graduated from the high school when a youth of seventeen years. When his school days were over he hegan working on his father's ranch east of Windsor. This was a three hundred acre tract of land devoted to general farming and Thomas A. Ireland continued to reside thereon from 1880 until 1892, when the family removed to Denver, after which he worked in the mines for four years. During that period he was at Blackhawk and afterward went to Pueblo, where he spent two years on a ranch. He then returned to Denver, after which he removed to Severance but for a time was employed at farm labor north of Windsor. In 1904 he rented one hundred and twenty acres of land at Severance and has since carried on general agricultural pursuits. During a part of the time he also engaged in dairying but has sold his cows. His place is situated on section 26, township 7, range 67, and he is leading a useful and active life in the further conduct of his farming interests.
Mr. Ireland was married in 1910. upon the farm where he now resides, to Miss Golda Ward, a daughter of Charles and Catharine Ward. Her father is a farmer who
MR. AND MRS. THOMAS A. IRELAND
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has successfully conducted his business affairs. He represents one of the old families of West Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Ireland have been born two children: Charles Franklin, six years of age; and Catharine Geniza, four years of age.
Fraternally Mr. Ireland is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. He is interested in community affairs and the public good but concentrates the greater part of his time and attention upon his business inter- ests and by reason of close application and energy has made steady progress toward the goal of success.
GEORGE CHRISTIAN STEMEN, M. D.
Dr. George Christian Stemen, actively engaged in the practice of surgery in Denver, with offices in the Metropolitan building, was born in Kalida, Ohio, January 29, 1865. His father, Christian B. Stemen, was also a native of the Buckeye state and belonged to an old Virginian family of Swiss descent that was founded in America in 1747. The great-grandfathers on both the paternal and maternal sides of the family participated in the Revolutionary war and in the War of 1812. Chris- tian B. Stemen, the father, was a noted surgeon and for many years prior to his death was chief surgeon for the Pennsylvania Railroad system, with headquarters at Fort Wayne, Indiana. He there passed away November 13, 1915, at the ad- vanced age of eighty years. During the Civil war he served as captain and as surgeon of the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Infantry for three years and then hecause of ill health contracted in the line of his duty was made draft surgeon for the twelfth congressional district, which included Toledo, Ohio, He continued in that capacity until the close of the war. He was the author of a volume entitled "Stemen's Work and Railway Surgery" and was a frequent con- tributor to and also editor of medical journals. In fact his name was widely known to the profession and stood as a synonym for advanced knowledge, notahle skill and scientific investigation along the line of surgery. He married Lydia Enslen, a native of Ohio, where her parents located at an early day. The family is of English origin and was early planted on American soil. Her father was a soldier of the War of 1812. Mrs. Stemen is still living and reached the age of eighty years in May, 1918, her home being in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Dr. Stemen, whose name introduces this review, was the second in order of hirth in a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. The public school system of Fort Wayne, Indiana, afforded him his early educational oppor- tunities and later he attended Taylor University at Upland, Indiana, where he was graduated with the Master of Arts degree in 1884. He next entered the Indiana University School of Medicine and was graduated in 1887, at which time his pro- fessional degree was conferred upon him. He then served for two years as interne in St. Joseph's Hospital at Fort Wayne, after which he entered upon the active private practice of his profession in that city, where he continued for a number of years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Denver, where he arrived on Christ- mas day of 1898, and through the intervening period, covering two decades, he has continuously engaged in the practice of surgery, in which field he displays notable skill and proficiency. He belongs to the American Medical Association, is an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Railway Surgeons' Association and an hon- orary member of the Northwestern Ohio Medical Association. He has been a mem- ber of the Colorado state hoard of medical examiners, serving from 1900 until 1902, and was a member of the Colorado state board of health for six years. He has been surgeon of Mercy Hospital since the erection of its building and has been on the staff of the County Hospital for the past eighteen years. He is a well known writer, frequently contributing to the medical journals of the country. He has carried his investigations and his reading far and wide and. having long since passed the ranks of the many, now stands among the successful few.
Dr. Stemen has been married twice. On the 18th of June, 1888, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he wedded Rheua Nickey, a native of that state. and a daughter of D. W. and Lucinda ( Mossmann) Nickey. The death of Mrs. Stemen occurred January 31, 1907, in Denver, when she was thirty-eight years of age. She was sur- vived by two children: Ruth, who is now the wife of D. W. Hogan, of Gunnison, Colorado, by whom she has a daughter, Susan Ruth Hogan; and David C. Stemen, who was city and county attorney of Telluride, Colorado, and is now a sergeant of Battery D, Three Hundred and Forty-first Field Artillery. He was in training at
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Camp Funston and is now with the colors in France. In 1909 Dr. Stemen was again married. in St. Louis, Missouri, his second union being with Miss Madge Hays, a daughter of Major F. L. Hays, of Decatur, Illinois, and they reside at No. 1406 Gay- lord street.
Dr. Stemen has always voted with the republican party where national ques- tions and issues have been involved, but has cast an independent ballot at local elections. He is a prominent Mason, having attained the thirty-third honorary degree. He was made a member of the order in February, 1886, in Sol D. Bayless Lodge, No. 359, A. F. & A. M., of Fort Wayne, Indiana, of which he is a past mas- ter. He also belongs to Denver Lodge, No. 17, B. P. O. E. He enjoys motoring and fishing when he has leisure for such interests, but his time and attention are con- centrated mostly upon his profession and he has the distinction of having suc- cessfully performed the second operation for appendicitis in the United States, this taking place on the 22d of April, 1887. From the outset of his professional career he has made steady advancement and his increasing powers have placed him in the front rank among the eminent surgeon's of Denver and the west.
CARLETON A. ORR.
Carleton A. Orr, superintendent of the power plant and shops of the Arkansas Valley Railway, Light & Power Company of Pueblo, was born in Del Norte, Colorado, on the 3d of January, 1877, and is a son of Charles Andrew and Mary G. (Rundle) Orr. The parents became residents of this state in 1876 and the father followed ranching in order to promote his fortunes and provide for the support of his family.
Carleton A. Orr was a pupil in the public and high schools of Del Norte, Colo- rado, while later he became a student in the State University of Illinois and also studied for a time in the Armour Institute. He took up the machinist's trade and for some time was associated with the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad Company. He afterward had charge of the machine shops for the Griswold Steel & Wire Company of Sterling, Illinois, covering the years 1897 and 1898, after which he removed to Peoria, Illinois, to accept the position of chief engineer with the Avery Manufacturing Company. In 1900 he made a still further step in advance by becoming chief engineer of the Peoria Gas & Electric Light Company, with which he remained until 1906, when he was made master mechanic of the Morrell Packing Company and given charge of all of their plants and headquarters at Ottumwa, Iowa. He continued in that position of responsibility until 1913, when in July of that year he returned to Colorado to accept his present position as super- intendent of the power plant and shops of the Arkansas Valley Railway, Light & Power Company. He is now serving in this position, for which his previous experi- ence has well qualified him, enabling him to carefully and correctly meet the heavy duties and responsibilities that devolve upon him.
On the 1st of February, 1904, Mr. Orr was united in marriage to Miss Erma James, a native of Nebraska, and to them has been born a daughter. Donna Maxine. Politically Mr. Orr is a republican, giving stalwart support and unfal- tering allegiance to the party. He is a third degree Mason and a member of the Tuesday Evening Club, a literary organization. He is fond of hunting and outdoor life and turns to these for needed rest and recreation. His time and attention are largely and profitably concentrated upon his business activities and besides his werk as superintendent of the power plant and shops of the Arkansas Valley Rail- way, Light & Power Company he is interested in various enterprises of a nature beneficial to the development of the state. A native son of Colorado, he has witnessed much of its growth and progress and wherever possible he has given substantial aid to interests and activities that are of worth and benefit to the commonwealth.
N. C. BONNEVIE.
N. C. Bonnevie, of Denver, is regarded as one of the expert analysts and metallurgists of the west. Thorough college training and broad practical experience have well qualified him for work in this connection, his preliminary training being received in his native country of Norway, where he was born on the 6th of July, 1870, the place of his nativity
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