USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 24
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Mr. Tobin's military experience covers several years' connection with the Colorado National Guard, and for a time he served as captain of his company. Politically he has figured prominently and for eight years was a member of the state senate, during which period he gave most thoughtful and earnest consideration to all the vital questions which came up for settlement. He stood for progress and improvement, supporting all measures that he believed were for the benefit of the state and as stanchly opposing any cause which he felt was detrimental to the welfare of county and commonwealth. He was also a member of the state commission that started the Gunnison tunnel and he is a member of the board of directors of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association, of which for eight years he served as the secretary. His activities along still other lines have been of great worth to the community. He was president for years of the Cattle Growers Association and after the failure of the Mesa County National Bank he served as its receiver. He is president of the Montrose Driving Park Association. Perhaps his most important public work, however, was done while he was a member of the state senate. Many of the bills passed during the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth sessions were championed by him, including the bill for the initiative and referendum, the direct primary bill, the banking hill and the utilities bill.
On the 23d of April, 1891, at Columbus, Wisconsin, Mr. Tobin was united in marriage
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to Miss Catherine MeTiernan. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church and he has attained the third degree in the Knights of Columbus. His political allegiance is with the democratic party although he cast his first vote as a republican. As a follower of the silver cause, however, he entered democracy's ranks and has since remained with her standard. He is now acting as secretary of the state fair association and he is serving on the district draft board at a great personal sacrifice. He is ever most loyal to his country and its best interests, and labors untiringly to promote any cause that will prove of benefit to his community, his state and his nation.
CLYDE C. DAWSON.
Clyde C. Dawson, a distinguished member of the Denver bar, has been a resident of Colorado since 1876, although a native of Dallas county, Iowa, where his birth occurred on the 8th of February, 1864. his parents being Dr. Jesse W. and Caroline ( Price) Dawson, both of whom were natives of Ohio. They resided for some years in Iowa but in January, 1876, removed to Caîion City, Colorado, when their son, Clyde C., was a youth of twelve years. His education, begun in the public schools of his native state, was there continued and he was graduated with the first class that completed the high school course in Canon City, being numbered among its alumni of 1884. Through the succeeding scholastic year he was a student in the Denver University and then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he pursued his law course and was graduated with the class of 1888. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Canon City on the 1st of January, 1889, and became a member of the law firm of Waldo & Dawson. Later a third partner was added under the style of Waldo, Dawson & Stump and in that relation Mr. Dawson continued in practice from 1889 until 1910, when he removed to Denver, seeking the broader field of labor offered by the larger city. Here he entered the firm of Hayt, Dawson & Wright on the 1st of January of that year. He has given much attention to irrigation law yet has at all times engaged in the general practice of his profession, doing much trial or court work. He was one of the counsel representing the state of Colorado in the case of Kansas vs. Colorado over the waters of the Arkansas river, the case being an original proceeding in the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Dawson took part in the oral argument of this case. He was also one of the counsel in the case of the United States vs. the Beaver River Power Company of Utah and took part in the argument in the United States supreme court. He has appeared in other cases in that court and has practiced in all the various state and federal courts, being widely recognized as one of the prominent representatives of the profession in Colorado.
On the 23d of September, 1899, Mr. Dawson was united in marriage to Miss Kathryn Russell, of Woodstock, Illinois, who at the time of her marriage was a resident of Canon City, Colorado. They now have two children: Katharine, who was born in 1904; and Clyde C., whose birth occurred in 1905. Mr. Dawson is identified with several fraternal organizations and clubs. He has membership in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias and of the latter was grand chancellor in 1897-8 and afterward supreme representative. He belongs to the Denver Club, the University Club of Denver and the Denver Country Club and along the line of his profession is identified with the Denver, the Colorado and the American Bar Associations. He has long been an active factor in republican politics in this state and in fact has been an earnest supporter of the party since completing his law course but has never been a seeker for office. He was a delegate to the republican national conventions of 1904 and 1908 and was the republican nominee of the assembly and at the primary for United States senator in 1912. His support of any measure insures to it a large following, for it is a recognized fact that his aid and influence are given on the side of progress and improvement and that he is a close and discriminating student of the great political. sociological and economic problems of the age.
REV. JOHN E. HUMMON.
Rev. John E. Hummon, whose life work is well expressed in the strong and growing English Lutheran church of Denver, was born in Leipsic, Ohio, August 27, 1872, a son of Adam and Narcissa (Guthrie) Hummon. His youthful days were passed as a pupil in the country schools and as a teacher until he reached the age of twenty years. He then had the advantage of improving his education by a course in Wittenberg College at
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Springfield, Ohio, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1897. He had determined to devote his life to the ministry and on the completion of his classical course he entered the theological seminary at Spring- field, where he devoted three more years to study. Being then ordained to the ministry of the English Lutheran church, he assumed his first charge at Urbana, Ohlo, and after- ward engaged in preaching at Nevada, Iowa. Later he spent eight years in Omaha, Ne- braska, where he was instrumental in erecting a church at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was afterward called to San Francisco to act as superintendent of missions, continuing there for a year, on the expiration of which period he accepted the pastorate of the St. Paul's English Lutheran church of the general synod at Denver. He served this congregation for one year and five months when he with sixty members, in April, 1914, organized the Messiah English Lutheran church. This church is the youngest and strongest in the Rocky Mountain synod, which includes Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho. Since assuming charge Rev. Hummon has steadily but rapidly built up the church until it now has a membership of two hundred and sixty. The first place of worship was the Capitol Hill Baptist church but on the 18th of Novem- ber, 1917, the present church edifice at the corner of Elizabeth and Colfax, called the Martin Luther chapel, was dedicated and plans are under way for the erection of a magnificent cathedral adjoining the chapel and also a statue of Martin Luther. In the fall of 1918 there is also to be a merger of the general synod, the general synod of the south and the general council, which will enlarge the church considerably. Under the direction of Rev. Hummon the work of the church is being carried steadily forward, each department being well organized, and splendid results are being achieved.
On the 26th of June, 1902. Rev. Hummon was married to Miss Jessie P. Keel, of Findlay. Ohio, and to them has been born a son, Edward E., now eleven years of age. Rev. and Mrs. Hummon are widely known not only among the people of their own church but among other denominations as well, having gained many friends during the period of their residence in Denver.
HON. ROBERT WILLISON.
Hon. Robert Willison is a prominent architect whose professional interests are extensive and important and yet who has ever found time to meet the duties and obliga- tions of citizenship and who in response to the call of the public is now representing his district in the state legislature, where he is doing important service at this critical period in the history of the country. Scotland numbers him among her native sons. He was born at Kilmarnock on the first of October, 1865. His father, George Willison, was a native of Mauchline, Ayrshire, Scotland, and was a prominent attorney of Kilmarnock. For forty years he served as city attorney and also filled the office of chief of police. He died in Kilmarnock in November, 1914, having resided there practically throughout his entire life, which covered a period of seventy-six years, his birth having occurred in 1838. He was very prominent in professional circles and in political and civic connections and he ever took an active part in the development of the district in which he lived. witnessing the growth of Kilmarnock from a small town to a city of considerable size and im- portance. During 1906 he came to America to visit his son, spending a delightful six months in this country. He married Catherine Grieve Patrick, who was born in Kil- marnock and who passed away in 1873 at the age of thirty-four years.
Robert Willison was the fourth in order of birth in a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. He pursued his education in the Kilmarnock Academy and completed his studies there under the direction of Robert S. Ingram, who was a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Mr. Willison was graduated also from the School of Science & Arts in London with the class of 1886. His apprenticeship covered a period of five years and his practical experience and college training well fit him for important professional duties and service. Crossing the Atlantic to the new world. where he hoped to find a broad field of labor, he arrived at Detroit, Michigan, in 1888 and continued his residence in that city until February, 1889. In the meantime he had learned much concerning Denver, then as now a rapidly growing and developing city, and made his way to Colorado. For a time he was employed by leading architects of Denver and eventually he became junior member of the F. E. Edbrooke Company, archi- tects, with which firm he operated for a period of ten years. He then became city and county building inspector and also city architect, thus serving for eight years, during which time he erected the present Auditorium, costing five hundred thousand dollars;
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the public bath house; fire stations, and numerous other city buildings. He also wrote and compiled the present city building laws, which have since been in active operation. During this time he was the first appointee of the Colorado state board of examining architects and acted as secretary and treasurer of the board for six years. In point of time he is today the second oldest in the profession and is still in active practice in Denver. Aside from his public work he has enjoyed an extensive and very important private practice as an architect. He has been chosen to make the plans and supervise the erection of various school buildings, hotels and other prominent structures not only in Denver but throughout the state. After leaving the city hall he formed a partnership with M. S. Fallis under the firm style of Willison & Fallis, which relationship was main- tained from the summer of 1912 until the summer of 1914, at which time Mr. Willison became resident architect and superintendent of construction of the new Federal build- ing, which was erected at a cost of three million dollars. After the completion of the Federal building Mr. Willison opened his present offices and has since practiced his pro- fession alone. He designed the Sullivan memorial gate at the Esplanade entrance to City park, and he afterward made special designs for organ chambers in the Auditorium at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars to accommodate an organ which is the finest in the world. As an architect he stands in the front rank of his profession. His pre- paratory studies were most thorough and comprehensive and his later investigations and researches along the line of his profession have acquainted him with all that is finest and hest in the work of the architect. Utility, comfort and convenience, combine with beauty of form and design in the construction of all of the buildings which are erected under his direction and Denver owes much of her beauty to his efforts.
On the 4th of September, 1895, Mr. Willison was married in Denver to Miss Anne Brunton, a native of Detroit, Michigan, and a daughter of Andrew Brunton, a stone con- tractor, who came from Lanarkshire, Scotland, and has now passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Willison have been born three sons. George Findlay, who was born in Denver, July 24, 1896, graduated, magna cum laude, from the State University and enlisted in May, 1918. He is now at the Central Officers' Machine Gun Training School at Camp Hancock, Georgia. Andrew Brunton, who was born January 14, 1898, is a senior in the University of Colorado and an officer in the Reserve Officers' Training Camp at the Uni- versity of Colorado. He took the intensive training course at the Presidio at San Fran- cisco. Robert J., who was born February 14, 1902, is a junior in the East Denver high school.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church and fraternally Mr. Willison is connected with Harmony Lodge, No. 61, A. F. & A. M .; Denver Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M .; and Colorado Commandery, No. 25, Knights Templar. He belongs to the Colorado Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, a fact which indicates his advanced standing in his profession. He is a member of the Democratic Club, having always been a stanch democrat in his political views, while in the work of the party he has ever been deeply interested. He is now a member of the state legislature and was made chairman of the committee on public buildings and a member of the committee on Denver city affairs, engrossment, elections and appointments, labor and railroads. In the extraordinary session of the twenty-first general assembly he was made chairman of the committee on finance, ways and means. He was father of the university bill, whereby the university was taken out of politics and that institution and other higher institutions of learning will have an annual fund of six hundred thousand dollars per year, which is provided by a half mill levy through direct taxation. As chairman of the ways and means committee it was his duty to provide funds whereby the government could finance all those interests which were brought about through the war situation and in which the state of Colorado leads all others. He closely studied the vital questions of the state with relation to the welfare of its people, to the upholding of its high standards and to the support of the national government and his labors in this direction have been far- reaching, resultant and beneficial. his course receiving the endorsement of all loyal citizens.
JULES F. SITTERLE.
Denver claims Jules F. Sitterle as one of its native sons. His parents were pioneer residents of Colorado and throughout his entire life Jules F. Sitterle has been an inter- ested witness of the development of this state and has taken active part in promoting business progress and advancement in Denver. He is now assistant secretary-treasurer
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and general manager of the Royal Commercial Insurance & Investment Company. He was born January 19, 1892, of the marriage of Joseph and A. (Laux) Sitterle. The father was born in the province of Alsace Lorraine, while the mother is a native of Bavaria, and both came to the new world in early life. They took up their abode in Denver in the early '70s, when this city was a frontier town, giving little indication of the rapid progress which would transform it into a great metropolitan center, with its ramifying trade interests reaching out into every section of the country. The father established himself in the bakery business, which he successfully conducted for a time and then sold. He afterward became connected with mercantile affairs and is still residing in Denver but is now living retired. His wife was but a young girl when she became a resident of this city, where she was reared, educated and married. They became the parents of three children: Mrs. Stephen Leherer, living in Denver; Clemens, also of this city; and Jules F., whose name introduces this review.
The last named attended the public schools and after his textbooks were put aside secured a position with the American Trust Company, with which he remained for nine years. No higher testimonial of his capability and fidelity could be given than the fact that he was so long continued in that service. He was connected with the insurance department most of the time and thus had the opportunity of becoming thoroughly acquainted with every detail of the insurance business. As he acquired knowledge and experience he was advanced from time to time until he reached the position of assistant manager of the department. At the end of that time he decided to embark in business on his own account and therefore resigned his position to become one of the stockholders of the Royal Commercial Insurance & Investment Company, which was promoted and organized by Louis A. Siener, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Sitterle was elected to the position of assistant secretary-treasurer and general manager and is now acting in that capacity. During the interval between the establishment of the business and the present time an extensive patronage has heen secured. They conduct a general insurance and loan business, also make investments and, although the concern is a comparatively new one, they have made notable forward strides through the ability and efficient management of the heads of the organization, who are thoroughly capable men with comprehensive knowledge of every phase of insurance and with keen insight and sagacity as to the placing of investments.
On the 23d of December, 1916. Mr. Sitterle was married to Miss Helen D. Bennett, of Denver. a daughter of M. D. Bennett of this city. Fraternally Mr. Sitterle is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and he also belongs to the American Insti- tute of Banking. In politics he maintains an independent course nor has he ever sought or desired office, preferring to concentrate his energies and attention upon his business interests. In addition to being secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Royal Commercial Insurance & Investment Company he is also a director of the Big Sandy Creek Oil Company, which has holdings in oil lands in Colorado and Wyoming, with favor- able prospects for a large producing field in both places. Mr. Sitterle is yet a young man, having little more than completed a quarter of a century, yet his position in the business world is such as many a man of twice his years might envy. This is due to his thor- oughness, trustworthiness and efficiency. When he was in the employ of others no one ever questioned his loyalty and his clients in his present connection have the utmost confidence in his word and rely thoroughly upon his judgment.
CHARLES JOEL CLAYTON.
Among the stock men of the Union Stock Yards of Denver, extensively engaged in raising and handling cattle. is numbered the subject of this review, who is the senior partner in the firm of Clayton & Murnan, which has the reputation of handling the largest number of cattle of any firm west of Omaha. Not only do they handle cattle hut also are extensive raisers of cattle, having thousands of head constantly on the range and on their extensive ranches. which are located in Routt and Moffat counties of Colorado and in southern Wyoming. The history of a successful man is always of interest, indi- cating the methods that may he employed in the attainment of prosperity.
Charles J. Clayton was born in Anniton. Wisconsin. August 29. 1872. a son of Eli and Hannah (Woodard) Clayton. The father was a native of Devonshire, England, while the mother was born in the Killarney lake region of Ireland and came to America when two years of age. Eli Clayton was a lad of six summers when brought by his parents to the new world. the family home being established in Wisconsin, where he was reared to manhood. He there took up the work of cattle raising and farming and upon
CHARLES J. CLAYTON
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leaving Wisconsin removed to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, settling near the town of Walnut, where he remained during the greater part of his life. In his later years, how- ever, he was a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, for a time and he passed away at Atlantic, Iowa, in May, 1893. His widow survived him for only about a year, her death occurring in Atlantic in 1894. They were the parents of eight children: Mrs. Mary C. Embry, of Evanston, Illinois; R. W., who died in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1918; W. R., a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana; S. G., whose home is in Omaha, Nebraska; John, who died in South Dakota; Eli, who is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Charles J., of this review; and J. G .. a practicing physician of Craig, Colorado.
In his early life Charles J. Clayton attended the public schools of Iowa and the high school at Omaha. Nebraska, and when his textbooks were put aside he became interested in the cattle business and in ranching in Nance county, Nebraska, where he remained, however, for only a brief period. He then entered into the live stock business at the South Omaha and Sioux City (Iowa) Stock Yards Exchange, where he became very successful as a live stock salesman. He there continued for seven years and in 1898 arrived in Denver, where he was identified with various firms as a salesman until 1904, when he decided to engage in business on his own account. He then entered into partner- ship relations with C. A. Murnan, under the firm style of Clayton & Murnan, and in the intervening years their business has steadily grown until it has placed them in the front ranks among the live stock firms of the Union Stock Yards in Denver. In fact, the firm has handled the largest number of cattle of any firm on the Denver Exchange and their ranching interests in Moffat and Routt counties and southern Wyoming place them among the most prominent business men of Colorado. Mr. Clayton is a director of the Denver Live Stock Exchange.
On the 7th of August, 1915, in Kimball, Nebraska, Mr. Clayton was married to Mrs. Lillian (Beck) McManus. He maintains an independent course politically and fraternally he is identified with several organizations. A Mason of high rank, he has also crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and he has membership in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and in the Denver Athletic Club. His business progress should serve to stimulate and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished through individual effort. Ambition has pointed out the way and perseverance has enabled him to continue therein, so that in the course of years he has reached a most enviable position in the business circles of his adopted city.
CHARLES NELSON KINNEY.
Charles N. Kinney, president of the C. N. Kinney Adjustment Company and also engaged in the fire insurance business in Denver, is a native of the Empire state, his birth having ocenrred in Cortland, New York, September 5, 1860. He was one of the seven children, four of whom are yet living, born of the marriage of Cornelius and Laurette (Copeland) Kinney. The father was a native of Glastonbury, Hartford county. Connecticut, and devoted his life to tanning and to the leather business, becoming a well known merchant in that connection. His wife was born in the town of Cortland, New York. Mr. Kinney has passed away, as also has his widow, who died in Cortland, New York, September 16, 1918.
Charles N. Kinney was reared in the east and was a student in the public schools of his native city to the age of sixteen years, when his textbooks were put aside in order that he might make his initial step in the business world He became identified with mercantile interests in the employ of others and thus continued until 1885, when he removed westward with Shelton, Nebraska, as his destination. There he embarked in business on his own account, opening a merchandise establishment, which he con- ducted until 1895. In the latter year he removed to the San Luis valley, Colorado, and later carried on a general store at Florence from 1898 until 1903, when he became a resident of Denver and concentrated his efforts and attention upon a jobbing business and also became an insurance adjuster, later organizing the C. N. Kinney Adjustment Company, of which he is president. and C. H. Kinney, secretary. Finding the insurance field a congenial and profitable one. he embarked in business on his own account, establish- ing a fire insurance agency, in which connection he represents the National Fire Insurance Company of Providence, Rhode Island. He has since built up a business of large and gratify- ing proportions and is now operating as senior partner in the firm of Kinney & Killian, his associate in the business being G. E. Killian. They have offices in the Cooper building and have now gained a large clientage.
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