USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 25
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In 1890 Mr. Kinney was united in marriage to Miss Minerva Crumley, of Shelton, Nebraska, and they have become the parents of four children: Leila, who is a graduate of the Denver University and is now connected with the Rocky Mountain division of the Red Cross as a civilian relief organizer; Charles H., who is a graduate of the Colorado Agricultural College and until October, 1918, was associated in business with his father, when he became a candidate for the Artillery Officers Training Corps at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky; Alta, a student in the Denver University; and Arthur, who is attending the Manual Training high school.
Mr. Kinney is a worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in Arapahoe Lodge, No. 130, A. F. & A. M., while in the Lodge of Perfection he has attained the eighteenth degree of the Scottish Rite. He and his family are connected with the Methodist Episcopal church and he is serving on the board of the Epworth Institutional church, in the work of which he is most earnest and active, his labors being largely resultant in promoting its interests. He turns to fishing for recreation, hut his chief activity is in the development of his own fortunes and the promotion of the interests of the church.
ARTHUR M. JOHNSON.
Arthur M. Johnson, well known in banking and industrial circles of Colorado, was born in Clayville, New York, March 29, 1864, a son of Albert F. and Betty A. (Mason) Johnson, who were also natives of the Empire state, where for many generations the ancestors were prominent citizens. The father left New York with his family and removed to Iowa. while subsequently he became a resident of Frontier county, Nebraska, settling at Curtis. There he became the pioneer banker and was prominently identified with the progress, development and business upbuilding of the city, conducting important interests along the various lines of business in which he engaged up to the time when he decided to retire. He then removed to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where he spent his remaining days, passing away in 1912, at the age of seventy-four. His widow still occupies the family home which was established by her husband at Fort Morgan and has now reached the age of eighty years. Their family numbered two children: George R., who is living in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Arthur M., of this review, who is the elder of the two sons.
Arthur M. Johnson received his early education in the schools of southwestern Iowa, which was supplemented by a business college course in Rochester, New York, after which he returned to his home in Mills county, Iowa. Upon entering his business career he took up banking and for four years was cashier of the Exchange Bank at Hastings, Iowa. In 1886 he removed to Curtis, Nebraska, where he established the Frontier County State Bank, of which he became cashier, and during more than a decade following had practically the management of that institution. Mr. Johnson, on removing to Colorado in 1900, resided in Denver for two years and then located in Fort Morgan, where in Oc- tober, 1902, in association with others, he bought the State Bank, at that time the oldest hank in Morgan county. This institution was reorganized into the First National Bank of Fort Morgan. Mr. Johnson becoming its cashier. This institution took on new. life at once and under an able management its growth was rapid and substantial, becoming one of the strongest country hanks in Colorado. Mr. Johnson had much to do with the shaping of its policies and was no small factor in the success of the institution, of which he was serving as vice president during the latter years of his connection therewith. Mr. Johnson was one of the organizers of the Mid-West Oil Company in 1910, becoming its first vice president and general manager. It was during his connection with the company in this capacity that the refinery was erected in Casper, Wyoming. the pipe laid and oil gotten into that city. Since disposing of his interests in that company in January, 1913, he has been operating independently in Kansas fields as well as giving personal super- vision to his other private interests, which are varied.
Mr. Johnson was married on the 29th of June, 1887, to Miss Mary A. Peale, of North Platte, Nebraska, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Peale. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born six children. Albert F., is assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Fort Morgan. Colorado. Elsie L. is the wife of Dr. Robert Lewis, of Denver. Eva mar- ried E. E. Smoot and resides in Denver. She has a son, Arthur Newton. Frank and Fred are twins, the former being now in Michigan, while the latter is with the truck department of the United States Army "somewhere in France." Gertrude is the wife of Lieutenant Dudley H. Woodin of the United States Army. now stationed at San Diego, California.
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Mr. Johnson has taken the consistory degrees of Masonry and is a member of El Jebel Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Fort Morgan and he is a member of the Denver Athletic Club and of the River- side Gun Club. In political affairs he is a republican, taking the interest in politics of a business man with no desire for honors of that character. He has been essentially a business man and has been successful along the lines where his activities have led. A banker for more than twenty years, his achievements in that business established for him the reputation of being one of the ablest country bankers in this section of the west. Mr. Johnson resides in Denver.
CHARLES H. BLISS.
Charles H. Bliss is recognized as a man of undaunted energy, enterprise and keen sagacity in business affairs. He is the owner of valuable farming property near Greeley and in addition to the cultivation and development of his land he is president of the Greeley Canning Company and is also a director in the Mason Produce Company of Greeley. He has keen insight and readily discriminates between the essential and the non-essential in business affairs. He has thus been able to use that which is most worth while and his efforts and energies have brought about substantial results.
Mr. Bliss is a native of Union county, Iowa. He was born January 7, 1869, a son of William Henry Harrison Bliss, whose birth occurred in the state of New York on the 15th of August, 1840. The father came of English ancestry and he spent the first thirteen years of his life in the east, after which he removed westward to Iowa in 1853. He after- ward became a prominent farmer and stock feeder of that state and very capably and successfully managed his business affairs. He was ambitious and was constantly seeking opportunities for the further development of his interests. At length he decided to remove to Colorado and in 1884 made his way to Colorado Springs, where he lived for three years. He next took up his abode in Pleasant Valley, near Greeley, in 1887, and in 1898 he established his home in the city of Greeley. He was a director in the Farmers Mercantile Company from the time of its organization until his death and he was actively, helpfully and prominently connected with ditch work of the locality, doing much to further irrigation interests.
It was on the 21st of March, 1866, that William H. H. Bliss was married in Afton, Union county, Iowa, to Miss Mary Robb, who was born in Muncy, Pennsylvania, not far from Harrisburg, in 1845, and she, too, is of English lineage. In his early days William H. H. Bliss gave his political allegiance to the republican party but afterward followed an independent political course with leaning toward the prohibition party. As his youth- ful days were largely passed in Iowa when that district was a frontier region, he had but limited educational opportunities but in later years read broadly, thought deeply and became a well informed man. In fact he was very fond of books and was constantly broadening his knowledge. In his later years he served as president of the school board in Greeley, Colorado, occupying that position for a number of years. He possessed sound judgment in business affairs and his investments were most carefully and judiciously made, so that he won a very gratifying measure of success. In fact at his death he had accumulated a large amount of property and was able to leave a farm to each one of his children, numbering five sons and a daughter. His course was always characterized by the utmost integrity and he had the reputation of being at all times honorable and just. He would sacrifice his material interests any day rather than his good name and the bankers of the town came to know that his word was as good as any bond solemnized by signature and seal. He did not demand respect but he commanded it by an upright life. Both he and his wife were active members of the Methodist church and guided their lives according to its teachings.
Charles H. Bliss of this review began his education in one of the rural schools of Iowa and afterward acquired a high school education at Colorado Springs, being gradu- ated there with the class of 1887. His college course, however, was cut short. He began work upon his father's farm and when he had attained bis majority he and his brother David rented the old homestead farm of the father, in 1891, and carried on agricultural pursuits in partnership for a number of years. In fact they still own some property together. In 1900 they purchased eighty acres adjoining the homestead, which they still own. Subsequently they purchased four hundred acres of raw land two miles north of Ault in 1903. The brothers developed this property and divided it into three farms. One of these they sold in 1906 and the other two in 1910. They then bought a quarter section
CHARLES H. BLISS
Vol. III-12
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of land south of Barnesville and fourteen miles northeast of Greeley, to the further cultivation and improvement of which they are now giving their attention as well as the home farms comprising one hundred and eighty acres, which are considered as valuable as any farm land in the state. They make a specialty of raising potatoes, alfalfa, sugar beets, peas and beans and also raise grain to some extent and in the winter they feed lambs.
On the 27th of June, 1894, Mr. Bliss was married in Greeley to Miss Cora Darling, a daughter of Willard M. and Abbie S. Darling. Her father, who followed farming north- east of Greeley, died in 1915, while the mother passed away in April, 1917. They were both descendants of old New England families and when called to their final rest their graves were made in Lynn Grove cemetery of Greeley. Mrs. Charles H. Bliss was edu- cated in the public schools and the Greeley high school, in which she completed her course with the class of 1887. Her parents were pioneers of this section of the state, having come to Greeley with the colonists in 1870. Mrs. Bliss after leaving the Greeley high school became a teacher of music in Greeley under Professor J. R. Whiteman. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bliss have been born two children. Clarence D., born in September, 1896, was graduated from the Greeley high school with the class of 1915 and afterward spent three years in the Colorado State Agricutural College at Fort Collins. He is now with the Reserve Officers' training camp, stationed at the Presidio, San Fran- cisco. He was one of thirty-five men to be selected from the Colorado Agricultural College and at this writing he holds the rank of color sergeant. Donald E., born May 14, 1903, is a first year high school pupil of Greeley.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church, in the work of which they take a most active and helpful interest. Mr. Bliss is now serving as super- intendent of the Sunday school, a position which he has occupied for twenty-three years, and he has the largest attendance at his school of any in the county. Mrs. Bliss is superintendent of the primary department and has so continued for a number of years. Their leisure time is all given to Sunday school work. They are also active members of the Red Cross and are keenly interested in everything that pertains to moral progress and to the adoption of high ideals of manhood and citizenship. Theirs is a beautiful home and Mr. and Mrs. Bliss are people of innate refinement and culture, gladly welcomed into all those social circles where true worth is accepted as a passport.
JOHN WESLEY MCCLINTON.
Jolin Wesley MeClinton is superintendent of the Pueblo School District No. 1 and in following his profession he has ever recognized the fact that the purpose of teaching is to develop capacity. He has therefore put forth earnest effort in school training to give the pupil a foundation for further development in later life and his labors have been most beneficially resultant. His identification with Pueblo dates from 1917, when he came to this state to accept the superintendency of the Centennial high school, but previously he had gradually worked his way westward after leaving Chicago, where he had pursued his studies as a public school and college student. He had become a resident of that city in early boyhood, although he is a native of Canada, his birth having occurred in Ontario on the 4th of January, 1878, his parents being John and Margaret ( McKitrick) MeClinton. The father was a farmer by occupation and has now passed away, but the mother is still living. They had a family of two sons and two daughters.
Jolin Wesley McClinton, who was the third child in that family, pursued his early education in Northwestern Academy of Evanston near Chicago and later attended North- western University, in which he won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1903. He next went to Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he was engaged in teaching in the high school, there spending two years. He afterward devoted five years to educational work at Redfield, South Dakota, and on the expiration of that period went to Minneapolis, where for one year he was a teacher in the Central high school and during that period studied law at night. He then accepted the position of superintendent of the schools of Mitchell, South Dakota, where he remained for six years, and in 1917 he was called to the superintendeney of the Centennial high school of Pueblo. His entire profes- sional record has been marked hy steady advancement and by close conformity to the highest professional ideals. He has taken special work at Columbia University and throughout his life has remained a close and discriminating student, constantly broaden- ing his knowledge by wide reading and investigation.
In 1903 Mr. MeClinton was united in marriage to Miss Frances Lemery and they now have one daughter, Margaret Elene. The parents have made many friends during
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the period of their residence in Pueblo and to them is extended the warm-hearted hospi- tality of the best homes, in which intelligence and true worth are accepted as passports to good society. Professor McClinton is a member of the Monday Evening Club, a literary organization, and he also belongs to the Commerce Club of Pueblo. He was likewise a member of the Chamber of Commerce while in Mitchell, South Dakota, and served as its president. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, having taken the three degrees of the blue lodge. His political endorsement is given to the republican party. He is interested in hunting, which constitutes a source of rest and recreation to him when it is possible for him to put aside his professional activity. He is leaving the impress of his individuality and ability upon the school system of Pueblo, holding to the highest possible standards in his work, and he inspires teachers and pupils under him with much of his own zeal.
THOMAS W. DUCKELS.
Thomas W. Duckels, secretary of the American Loan & Investment Company of Denver, was born in Chesterfield, Illinois, August 15, 1878, and is a son of Henry Clay Duckels, who is likewise a native of Chesterfield. The grandfather, Richard Duckels, was a native of England and was the founder of the American branch of the family. He crossed the Atlantic in 1827, when twenty-one years of age, and after a few years spent in the east removed to Maconpin county, Illinois, which was then a frontier district. There he homesteaded land, being one of the first settlers in that section, and throughout his remaining days his efforts and attention were given to general agricultural pursuits in that locality. He was in Alton, Illinois, when Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot in front of his print shop because of his advocacy of the freedom of the negro. It was Mr. Duckels who picked up the murdered man and carried him into his shop. Mr. Duckels was beyond military age at the time the trouble between the north and the south precipitated the country into civil war but he was a loyal advocate of the Union canse and a stanch champion of abolition. He died in Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1900, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, after having for many decades contributed to the growth, prog- ress and substantial improvement of that section of Illinois. His son, Henry Clay Duckels, was reared and educated in Chesterfield, Illinois, and successfully followed farming until 1906. Since that time he has lived retired, enjoying the fruits of a well spent life, and he yet makes his home in Chesterfield. In early manhood he married Ophelia Loper, a daughter of Adrian W. and Susan (Keller) Loper, both representatives of old Illinois families who came originally from New Jersey. The death of Mrs. Henry C. Duckels occurred in 1896, when she was thirty-seven years of age. In the family were three sons and a daughter, all of whom are living.
Thomas W. Duckels, the eldest of the family, is indebted to the educational system of Chesterfield. Illinois, for the training he received in his early youth. He there mas- tered the work of the grades and of the high school and he afterward entered the Northern Illinois College of Law, from which he was gradnated in 1900, winning the LL. B. degree while subsequently his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Law degree. His early life was spent upon the home farm and after his graduation he removed to Colorado, arriving in Denver on the Ist of August, 1900. His first professional connection was with C. W. Varnum, one of the leading attorneys of the early days, in whose office he read and studied Colorado law. He was afterward associated with Charles F. Wilson in the insur- ance business, in which he continued for four years. He later became identified with the Svea Insurance Company as traveling fire insurance adjuster, his territory covering Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and parts of Nevada and Idaho. He continued with the Svea Insurance Company until 1909, at which time the business was merged into that of the American Company. Prior to this merger, however, the business was con- ducted as the Peters-Cooper-Duckels Company. In 1911 Mr. Duckels became the secretary of the American Loan & Investment Company, which office he has since continuously filled. The business outside of the field of investments covers real estate, insurance and loans and they are among the representative firms in this line in the state. They have secured a good clientage and the steady growth of their business indicates their thorough understanding of every phase thereof.
On the 14th of March, 1912, Mr. Duckels was united in marriage to Miss Ethel Hurley, a daughter of J. M. Hurley, of Hannibal, Missouri, and a member of one of the old and prominent families of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Duckels have become parents of three children: John Henry, born in Denver, November 28, 1912; Dorothy Jane, born March 14, 1914; and Thomas W., born September 12, 1915. Mr. Duckels finds his chief diversion in
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fishing and is a great lover of outdoor life. His political allegiance is given to the demo- cratic party. which he has always supported since reaching adult age. He belongs to the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and he is a member of the Real Estate Ex- change. He is much interested in everything that has to do with public progress and im- provement and his cooperation can at all times be counted upon to further measures and movements for the general good. His interests have been broad, his activities untiring and throughout his career he has pressed steadily forward to the goal for which he has striven. He is yet a young man hut has achieved a measure of success which is indeed creditable and enviable.
ROLLIN Q. TENNEY.
Rollin Q. Tenney, residing in Fort Collins, is a retired irrigation engineer, with forty- five years' practical experience in the Cache La Poudre valley. His birth occurred at Lebanon, New Hampshire, on the 14th of March, 1838, his parents being Andrew and Eliza ( Minor) Tenney, the former born at Hanover, New Hampshire, January 29, 1794, and the latter at Lempster, New Hampshire, on the 5th of May, 1796. Andrew Tenney worked at the cabinet maker's trade throughout practically his entire life, passing away in April, 1838. For four decades he was survived by his widow, who was called to her final rest in July, 1878. The first of the name in this country was Thomas Tenney, who emigrated to the United States in 1638, locating in Essex, Massachusetts. He had a family of six children, from whom are descended the numerous representatives of the name now living in this country. In the maternal line R. Q. Tenney dates his ancestry back to 1346, the time of King Edward III.
Rollin Q. Tenney acquired his early education in the district schools and continued his studies in the Kimball Union Academy of Meriden, New Hampshire. In 1856 he entered the service of the Vermont Central Railroad, being employed in the machine shops at Northfield until 1862. In August of the latter year he enlisted in Company C of the Fif- teenth Vermont Infantry and before leaving the state was mustered into the United States service at Brattleboro, Vermont, as commissary sergeant. When his term of enlistment had expired he entered the service as civilian employe in the quartermaster's department. He was at City Point during the winter of 1864-65 and also through the following spring, was at headquarters of the Sixth Corps at the time of the surrender of Lee at Appomattox and was transferred to the Twenty-fifth Corps, going with the command to the Rio Grande at Brownsville, Texas, in June, 1865. He acted as chief clerk at the depot at Browns- ville until the 25th of May, 1866, and then returned home, having assisted in the over- throw of Maximilian in Mexico.
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In August, 1866, Mr. Tenney took the advice of Horace Greeley and went west to grow up with the country, locating at Chariton, lowa, where he was engaged in the mer- cantile business until the latter part of December, 1868, then went to Dixon, Illinois. In June, 1871, he made his way to Colorado and took up his abode on an eighty-acre farm two miles northwest of Fort Collins, subsequently sending east for the first Jersey cattle brought to this state. On the 9th of November, 1873, he was elected the first master of Grange No. 7 and has been connected with the organization continuously since, he and his wife representing the state of Colorado at St. Louis, Missouri, Louisville, Kentucky, and Charleston, South Carolina. In 1874 or 1875 the Grange established a cooperative store on the location now occupied by The Pondre Valley National Bank. In the meantime the Victor Dairy was established, Mr. Tenney being the proprietor, and butter was packed in four-pound bags. The output was labeled: "Victor Dairy, Fort Collins, Colorado, R. Q. Tenney, Proprietor." This was the first enterprise of the kind in the state.
Mr. Tenney took an active interest in irrigation projects from the beginning and in the summer of 1877 or 1878, in company with Jack Dow, made the first preliminary survey on what is now the North Poudre irrigation system. He extended the Jackson ditch and directed the first water into Long pond. He completed the Richards reservoir, which was the first in priority of any importance, other than Warrens Lake reservoir, in the Pondre valley. In 1883, in association with his brother Melvin, he developed a large ranch in the Box Elder valley and turned his attention to the live stock business, having about five hundred head of cattle and horses. He operated the ranch successfully until June, 1890, and then removed to Fort Collins, where he has since resided, owning an attractive home at No. 634 South Mason street. For more than four years, from 1889 until 1893, he operated the Barton coal mine and has worked the same vein since 1908, having in that year purchased from the government one hundred and sixty acres of coal land.
On the 22d of February, 1871, in Lee county, Illinois, Mr. Tenney was united in
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