USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 106
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Mr. Wolff was independent in his political views but was not indifferent to political questions. On the contrary, he was well informed on local, state and national issues und vigorously supported those candidates whom he considered worthy of support. To him party did not mean as much as the welfare of the people, in which he was ever concerned. Local movements for betterment and improvement always found in him a supporter, who was ever ready to give of his time and means in order to promote measures which he considered of lasting benefit. He was very prominent in the Clear Creek Valley Grange, of which he was master for two decades, his long continuance in office readily demonstrating the acknowledged position which he held among the agri- culturists of his section. For sixteen years he was president of the Grange Mutual Insurance Company and was largely responsible for the phenomenal growth and success of that institution. He was also a man of deep religious convictions, ever exemplifying the same in his daily life, and in his dealings with his fellowmen. He took an active part in organizing and establishing the Presbyterian church at Arvada, in which he served as an elder for many years. He was also superintendent of the Sabbath school there for many years, while both he and his worthy wife ever took active interest in all church work.
On May 19, 1918, Mr. Wolff was called to his final rest, his demise causing deep sor- row to his immediate family, who received many tokens of sincere condolence during their bereavement. Many were the friends whom he left behind and all spoke of him in terms of the highest apppreciation. His memory is enshrined in the hearts of all those who had the honor of his closer acquaintance and it will live as that of a man of rare qualities of heart and character.
WILLIAM L. STEPP.
William L. Stepp became a resident of Jefferson county in 1864 and for many years was closely associated with its agricultural interests. His residence in the state, how- ever, dated from 1860 and in the early days he was connected with mining and building interests. His birth occurred near Terre Haute, Indiana, on the 13th of January, 1837, and death called him on the 14th of February, 1913. His parents were Joshua and Rebecca (Owens) Stepp and while spending his youthful days in their home he pursued his education in the public schools of Indiana. He afterward took up the occupation of farming in his native state, early becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. At a later period he went to Mercer county, Missouri, and while there learned and followed the carpenter's trade. In 1860, however, he started across the plains and on the 27th of July, 1861, took up his abode in Denver, after which he worked at carpentering until 1864. Also during the early period of his residence in this state he followed farming to a greater or less extent. On leaving Denver he removed to Georgetown and afterward was located in other mining towns, where he engaged in carpentering, building and prospecting. In the fall of 1864 he arrived in Jefferson county, taking up his abode at Baker Crossing on Clear creek, where he carried on farming for two years. He next went to Leyden, where he engaged in carpentering, and then made his way to Ralston valley. He remained upon his first farm for two years, having eighty acres, and on the expiration of that period he removed to the present homestead of the family, later adding thereto a preemption claim of one hundred and sixty acres, on which has since been developed the Leyden coal mines. He engaged in general farming and in cattle raising and his business affairs were wisely and successfully conducted.
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM L. STEPP
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He was also superintendent of the Church ditch for eight years and was much interested in irrigation projects, taking a helpful part in promoting the interests of the state along that line. His life was a busy and useful one, fraught with good results, and he con- tinued to energetically develop his farming interests until his demise, which occurred on the 14th of February, 1913.
Mr. Stepp was married to Miss Missouri A. E. Belcher. a daughter of Harvey and Susan (Williams) Belcher, the wedding being celebrated in Mercer county, Missouri, April 18, 1858. They became the parents of the following children: Benjamin Franklin and Mary Ann, who have passed away; Rebecca M., the wife of Frank Daly; Marisco, who married Benjamin Ballinger, of Longmont. Colorado; William G .; Charlotte, who became the wife of James Bodkin, of Mead, Colorado: Lincoln, who married Naomi Harrington; Olive, the wife of Benjamin Parks; Susan, the wife of Frank Cherry Holmes; Andrew Jackson. who married Ida Lloyd; Lora, who married Ulysses Harrington; Charies, who wedded May Dicks; Alvin, who married Edna Ward; and Lula, the wife of Leander Newcomb.
In his political views Mr. Stepp was an earnest republican. stanchly endorsing the party yet never desiring office. He was a Mason, belonging to Golden Lodge, No. 1, A. F. & A. M., and in Colorado Commandery, No. 1, he attained the Knight Templar degree. He and his wife were worthy pioneer people of the state. Mrs. Stepp set out the first tree on the present homestead ranch and carried it to the place from Leyden. Their efforts were most effective in bringing about a marked transformation in the appearance of the land which he preempted. Various beautiful trees were grown, sub- stantial buildings erected and everything about the place developed according to modern progressive ideas of farming. Mr. Stepp never had occasion to regret his determination to seek his fortune upon the western frontier, for in Colorado he found the opportunities which he sought and in their utilization achieved success. Moreover, his labors were of great benefit in the development of the district in which he lived and he aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present growth and prosperity of the state.
William G., who is now managing the estate, was horn at Rebecca Crossing, Colo- rado, December 5, 1864. Upon reaching his majority, he started ont for himself, and for the ensning fifteen years was engaged in prospecting and mining in the various camps of the state. He then began farming, near Longmont, and in Wyoming. Later he was engaged in the operation of coal properties at Leyden, Colorado. In 1902 he purchased a tract of forty acres, a part of the old John Clark estate, which he has since operated in general farming. Like his father before him. he is a republican in politics, and while never seeking office, takes a lively interest in the affairs of the community in which the family home has so long been established.
NAT S. HURD.
Nat S. Hurd, a pioneer miner of Colorado, was born in Waltham, Vermont, on the 15th of November, 1836. Life has brought to him many varied experiences, with hardships and privations, but eventually industry and perseverance have won out. He has now passed the eighty-second milestone on life's journey. He is a son of A. B. and Caroline ( Stowell) Hurd, both of whom were natives of Vermont. They removed to Morrison, Illinois, in 1840, and the father there engaged in farm- ing until 1860, when he crossed the plains to Colorado, reaching his destination after several months of hard travel. He built the first mill on what was then known as Spanish Bar and later he retraced his steps across the plains to Illinois. Nat S. Hurd then came to Colorado to look after his father's interests and in 1861 the father returned with the family and they established their home on Spanish Bar. This trip was also made across the country and in the party was Joe Bates of Missouri, who afterward became one of Colorado's most distinguished men. Mr. Hurd continued to operate his mill at Spanish Bar, which was the first one in Clear Creek county, and later he built a mill on Mosquito creek, which was the first in that section. He operated the latter mill for five or six years but with indifferent
success. The methods then employed for gathering the particles of gold were a sluice box with a slot and much of the finer gold washed away. Later a copper table was employed and this constituted a decided improvement yet by no means had reached a point of perfection. After a period Mr. Hurd lost all of his earnings and prepared to return to Illinois, but in crossing South Park he became affected with snow blindness, from which he never recovered, and he died at Holden, Kan-
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sas, at the age of ninety-two years. His wife passed away in Colorado in 1866. In their family were four children but only two are now living, the daughter being Mrs. Carrie Nichols, of Denver.
The son, Nat S. Hurd of this review, after his father's failure in business sought employment as a clerk but one morning found in his mail a request that he accept the position of engrossing clerk in the house, the capital being then located at Golden. The appointment was made by Dr. Holland, one of Mr. Hurd's lifelong friends, without Mr. Hurd's knowledge. In 1865 he was appointed wagon master under Colonel Chivington to take charge of a wagon train of lumber for Fort Lara- mie. This he did, delivering the lumber at the appointed place, and there he con- tinued to reside until 1869, his home being in Basin county, Wyoming. There was not a house for a thousand miles and in crossing the state of Wyoming, Mr. Hurd and his companions had several encounters with the hostile Sioux Indians, one of these occuring where the town of Casper now stands. He was afterward em- ployed in the transfer department of the United States government in the delivery of supplies to Fort Reno and Fort Phil Kearney and later he returned to Denver, where he took up his abode in 1869. He there installed machinery in the Jacobs mill and about that time he went to Georgetown, walking all the way.
On the 6th of June, 1869, Mr. Hurd was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Hawkins, a daughter of S. T. Hawkins, county commissioner of Arapahoe county. He built a log cabin at Georgetown and to that primitive home took his bride. In less than two years' time he, in connection with others, had leased and opened up what was known as the Divese mine. Before ten months had passed he had taken out seven hundred thousand dollars, one week's output netting him one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, which he carried to the bank in a market basket. In order to get all this precious metal in the basket he had to stamp upon it with his feet. This was a leased mine and after his lease expired he was obliged to re- linquish his right, but it remains to this day a valuable property.
Mr. Hurd continued in Georgetown for six years and after giving up the mine engaged in mercantile pursuits, becoming interested in the firm of Glaze, Bentley & Company, dealers in groceries and general merchandise. This life, however, seemed very tame after the excitement that always attends upon a mining venture and later he sold out. He then worked the float diggings from Leavenworth mountain and in this undertaking made considerable money. On account of the health of his wife, however, he returned to Denver in 1871 and built for her an attractive home in the capital city. He was appointed receiver for the Great West mine in Park county and to his work in that connection devoted the succeeding four years. He operated the mine, taking out a considerable sum of money after it had been pronounced worthless. During this period his attention was directed to Saguache, Colorado, whither he went with Colonel Lynn, and after investigation bought a mine for seven thousand dollars. He operated that property for seven years and took out an immense amount of ore, but after silver had declined in price he aban- doned the mine and sold the property. After silver was restored to its former price, however, the mine proved very valuable and its worth is now estimated at four million dollars. It is known as the Rowley mine and is one of the biggest in Colo- rado.
In the panic of 1893 Mr. Hurd, like hundreds of others, found himself financially em- barrassed to the full extent of being "broke." He had, however, loaned some money to parties in Grand county and in payment thereof they turned over to him some ranch property. With a team and wagon he started life anew. An act was passed about this time which allowed settlers to take up one hundred and sixty acres of timber land at two dollars and fifty cents per acre. The provisions of this act per- mitted Mr. Hurd to take up six hundred and forty acres of land, through the four members of his family. This purchase together with ranch property gave him one thousand acres practically in one body. Through his ranching interests he has re- gained in part his lost fortune. The timber he can sell readily and has become valuable. He is an indefatigable worker and even at his advanced age is as hale and hearty as many men in the early fifties. He can sit on a mower from morning till night, and outside of a little stiffness in his joints, he feels in excellent condi- tion after a hard day's work in the open.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hurd were born four children, one of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Pearl Lemmen, who was born in Denver, died in Grand county, leaving a daughter, Helen Hurd Lemmen. William A., who was born in Denver, is married and resides in Monroe, Oregon. Mrs. Maude Bloom, was born in Denver where she resides. In 1898 Mr. Hurd was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who
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passed away after many years' illness. Notwithstanding her long suffering, she was always cheerful, was ever a faithful helpmate to her husband and was an enthusiastic member of the Pioneers Society. She was ever generous and kindly to the poor and needy and her many admirable traits of character won her the love of those with whom she came in contact.
Fraternally Mr. Hurd is a thirty-second degree Mason. He, too, belongs to the Pioneers Society of Colorado and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His summers are spent upon his ranch, while during the winters he resides among his old-time friends in Denver, making his home in that city. Always a stalwart republican and always one of the counsellors of his party in his section of the state he was two years chairman of the republican central committee of Clear Creek county, Colorado. In 1886 Mr. Hurd was appointed insurance commissioner of Colorado by Darwin P. Kingsley, then state auditor and now president of the New York Life Insurance Company. Mr. Hurd discharged the duties of this office for six years, being appointed to succeed himself by two succeeding state auditors. His career as head of the insurance department was marked by a businesslike dis- charge of duties and all in all his regime therein will probably compare favorably with any of his predecessors or successors. There is no phase of pioneer life in Colorado and the west with which Mr. Hurd is not familiar and many events which to others are matters of history have transpired in scenes in which he has been an active factor. He was long identified with the development of the rich mineral re- sources of the state, and at a time when most men would lay aside business cares, lie is still actively identified with ranching, contributing to the agricultural progress of Colorado.
WILLIAM LEE.
William Lee was for many years a substantial and respected farmer of Colorado, residing near Wheat Ridge. He was born in London, England, January 27, 1837, and his life record covered the intervening years to the 21st of January, 1911. His parents were William and Janet ( Murray ) Lee. When a lad of eight years he came with his father to America and was a young man of twenty-two years when he arrived in Denver in May, 1859. He went on up into the mountains and began prospecting. In September of that year he came back down into the valley where he and his partner, Wayne Choat. purchased a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which they cleared ten acres and began gardening. Later Mr. Lee acquired full ownership of this property and added thereto by the acquirement of a preemption claim, located at what is now the end of the Larimer Street car line. In 1862 he set out the first apple trees, and raised the first apples grown in Colorado. These trees he brought overland by wagon from Towa. He set out a fine large orchard of fifteen hundred trees, locating them in the bottom land as the irrigation system had not then been introduced and the uplands were too dry. The great flood, which swept the valley in the early '60s, washed out all of this orchard and only about fifty trees of the original number were saved. These he trans- planted on the higher ground and one of them still stands, bearing fruit during the season of 1918. With characteristic energy he turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits and continued to engage successfully in farming to the time of his death. He was progressive in all that be did, studying ever to improve conditions, and his labors constituted an important element in the agricultural advancement and development of the state.
On the 24th of January, 1866. William Lee was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. McBride, a daughter of John R. and Mary ( Bay) McBride. The record of their children is as follows. William, the first born, died at the age of eleven months. James, born on the old homestead, May 20, 1868, pursued his education in the schools of Maple Grove. Iowa City, Iowa, and in Denver University, which he attended for two terms. He then returned to the ranch and became actively identified with its further development and improvement. He was married in Jefferson county, Colorado, on the 18th of March, 1890, to Miss Minnie Ann Cart, who was born in Jefferson county, Colorado, December 12, 1867, a daughter of Sylvester and Nancy Jane Nevius Cart, one of the honored pioneer settlers of Colorado, arriving in 1862. He was a blacksmith and followed his trade at Blackhawk and in Golden, and also engaged in farming at South Maple Grove. He died January 9, 1914, in his ninety-first year. His wife died July 25, 1916, aged eighty-seven years. To Mr. and Mrs. James Lee were born four children: Robert, who wedded Mary Gallagher and has a daughter, Hazel; Ruby, the wife of J. S. Heighton, by whom she
WILLIAM LEE
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has a son, James Lee; William, who married Ella Urton and has a daughter, Kathryn; and Harold, who married Ann Merritt. John R. Lee is the next member of the family. He was born July 11, 1870, on the old homestead and attended the schools of Maple Grove, after which he pursued a course in a business college at Iowa City, Iowa. He then returned home and took up farm work, now cultivating twenty-five acres of the old homestead. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and his brother James is also an advocate of the principles of that political organization. The younger members of the family are: Margaret, the wife of C. E. Howard, a resident of Estes Park, Colorado; and Albert W., who resides at Des Moines, Iowa, chief draughtsman with the Des Moines Bridge & Iron Company.
William Lee gave his political allegiance to the democratic party, of which he was always an earnest advocate. He left the impress of his individuality and ability upon the history of the state as a member of the first Colorado constitutional convention, in which he represented Jefferson county. He was also identified with the first Grange in the state of Colorado and was a very active. prominent and honored member of the Colorado Pioneers Society. He took a very deep interest in all that pertained to the history of his community and its development and did not hesitate to put forth the most 4
earnest effort to advance the welfare and progress of state and nation. His salient traits of character were most admirable and established him high in public regard.
CLARENCE M. IRELAND.
Clarence M. Ireland is the second vice president of the Western Life & Casualty Com- pany of Denver and thus figures prominently in insurance circles in the state, but this does not cover the scope of his activities, for he is a man of broad interests. He has large land holdings and is extensively engaged in farming and in the live stock business in Weld county. In all business affairs he displays sound judgment a well as a spirit of enterprise and progressiveness that produces splendid results. His life is an exem- plification of the spirit of western progress that has dominated Colorado in its upbuild- ing. He was born at Fort Lupton, Colorado, January 19, 1867, and is a son of Roger Ireland, who was a native of England and who came to America with his parents in 1824. The family home was originally established at Quincy, Illinois, where Roger Ireland was reared and educated. He turned to agricultural pursuits as a life work but at the time of the discovery of gold in California he joined the throng of people who crossed the plains to the Eldorado of the west. He drove a team of oxen from Illinois to the Pacific coast but did not meet the success which he had anticipated and in 1858, he returned hy way of the overland route to Illinois. Soon thereafter, or about 1859, he came to Colorado and settled near Fort Lupton. where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in 1890, when he was seventy years of age. He was exten- sively engaged in farming and stock raising during the period of his residence in Colo- rado and was one of its representative citizens. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and he was the first county commissionner of Weld county and also the first justice of the peace of Fort Lupton. He did much to formulate the policy and develop the interests of the section of the. state in which he lived and thus con- tributed in marked measure to its development. He married Sarah Bradley, a native of Illinois, and a descendant of one of the old pioneer families of that state, of English lineage. She passed away in 1901. The family numbered eleven children, five sons and six daughters, of whom Clarence M. Ireland was the youngest. Seven of the number reached adult age.
Clarence M. Ireland was educated in the old Arapahoe school at Seventeenth and Arapahoe streets in Denver. His early life was spent upon the ranch to the age of fif- teen years, when he started out to earn his own livelihood. He was first employed as a cow puncher or range rider and continued to devote his attention to ranch interests until 1899, when he entered mercantile lines, purchasing a little store at Hudson, Colo- rado, where he conducted a successful business for four years. He then disposed of his stock there and invested his money in lands in and near Hudson. He next entered the live stock business and he still retains his lands and live stock interests in this state. In the meantime his business along those lines has steadily grown and developed and has become of a most important character. In 1907 he organized the local irri- gation district and served as president of its board of directors for five years, devot- ing his entire time during that period to its interests. Between the years 1903 and 1907 he purchased large tracts of land, in fact acquiring all available land in that section. amounting to about twenty-eight hundred acres. He purchased this land at a small
CLARENCE M. IRELAND
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figure, some of it selling for less than a dollar per acre. Today the same property is worth from fifty to two hundred dollars per acre, owing to Mr. Ireland's enterprise and business ability, which has led to the successful completion of the irrigation project that waters the land. Today the district in which he operates is classed with Colorado's best farming country. In 1915 Mr. Ireland entered into active connection with the Western Life & Casualty Company with a cash investment of one hundred thousand dollars and he was elected to the office of second vice president, which position he has since continuously filled in a most acceptable manner. He also retains his farming interests and has fourteen hundred acres in cereal crops, including wheat, and an addi- tional five hundred acres in beans. He also raises from one hundred and fifty to two hundred head of cattle annually. Whatever he undertakes is carried forward to suc- cessful completion. He discriminates readily between the essential and the non-essen- tial in business matters. He has utilized his advantages and opportunities in a most excellent way, fruitful of splendid results, and moreover his activities have ever been of a character that have contributed to public progress and prosperity as well as to individual success.
On the 24th of December, 1894, Mr. Ireland was married to Miss Bertha Strawn, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Henry and Jennie ( Ball) Strawn. Mrs. Ireland died July 6, 1918. They became parents of two children, Gaile L. and Earl Strawn Ireland. The elder, whose birth occurred in 1896, is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, which institution conferred upon him the degree of LL. B. He is now in the United States army, being stationed at Base Hospital No. 29, London. He is a member of Phi Gamma Delta.
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