USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 31
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On coming to this state Mr. Wall first settled in Trinidad, where he filled the office of United States deputy surveyor, and in that connection subdivided public lands both in Colorado and New Mexico. He was also employed in mining work. mostly in the coal mines of southern Colorado. and has located and constructed irrigating ditches and res- ervoirs. He has been engaged in the location and construction of various railroads in Colorado and New Mexico, and has furnished plans and specifications for public and private enterprises. In a word, there came to him ready recognition of his ability as a civil engineer and as an architect, and the work entrusted to him was of a most important character. Recognition of his power and skill came to him in his election to the office of county surveyor of Las Animas county on two different occasions. He was also city engineer of Trinidad at various intervals through a period of ten years. During 1898 and 1899 he was connected with the engineering department of Colorado Springs, and then removed to Pueblo, where he has since resided. He is regarded as an expert
NORVAL W. WALL
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on hydraulic work. and his cooperation and opinions along that line are much sought after. Moreover, he is a student of archaeology and is thoroughly informed concerning Colorado's early history. He has many interesting old views of the state and has been a close student of its development and of those sciences which have had to do with the formation of the natural resources of the state.
In November, 1883, Mr. Wall was married to Miss Elizabeth Henderson, who was born in Renfrewshire. Scotland. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. Mr. Wall is a member of the Colorado Society, Sons of the American Revolution, to which his distinguished war ancestry entitles him, and is secretary and registrar of Pueblo Chapter, and also on the board of managers, taking a deep interest in this historical organization. He is regarded as a man of sterling worth in all matters of citizenship. Nothing can cause him to deviate from a course which he believes to be right between himself and his fellowmen. He is just. fair and impartial, and there are none who know him who do not have the most implicit trust in him. His post graduate work in the school of experience has placed him in the front rank of professional men in the state. and he is a pioneer of Colorado who for more than forty years has rounded out an active and useful career in every field of civil engineering and is considered one of the oldest civil engineers in the state, in point of practice and residence.
CHARLES B. WILLIS.
Charles B. Willis, captain of Fire Company No. 3 at Pueblo, was born at Corinth. Orange county, Vermont, August 16, 1863, a son of Jonathan B. Willis, who was a shoe- maker by trade and who in 1870 removed with his family to Denver, where he conducted a shoe shop until the 2d of February, 1872. He then removed to Pueblo and opened a shop on Santa Fe avenue, becoming one of the pioneers of the city, as he had been in Denver. The old log shop which he occupied in the early days is still standing. He remained for years an active factor in business and had prospered in his undertakings but suffered losses through a bank failure. He died in the year 1900.
Charles B. Willis had to go to work when a youth of but twelve years, owing to the failure of the bank in which his father had placed his savings and which brought great financial disaster to the family. Mr. Willis then began herding sheep and was thus employed for two years. He afterward began driving a team for his father in connection with city employment when a youth of fourteen and has been in the employ of the city continuously since. He was a member of the early volunteer city fire department and when the city first established the paid department in 1893 Mr. Willis became a member. He was made a captain in 1895 and he served as chief for two years. He has been a very active and prominent factor in bringing about the present efficiency of Pueblo's fire department. He is now captain of Fire Company No. 3, which company is splendidly organized and drilled, doing most effective work in fighting the fire fiend.
Mr. Willis was married on the 23d of November. 1884, to Miss Lavina Loop, a native of Kansas. He is fond of hunting and turns to that sport for recreation. He has mem- bership with the Knights of Malta, the Knights of Pythias and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church and his political views are in accord with the principles of the republican party. He was a little lad of but seven years when the family home was established in Colorado and he has since resided within the borders of the state, having therefore for forty-eight years been an interested witness of the growth and progress which has led to the substantial develop- ment of Colorado, placing it on a par with the older states of the east in all of the advantages and opportunities furnished to its citizens. He can relate many an interest. ing tale concerning both Denver and Pueblo and he well deserves mention among thie honored pioneer settlers.
RUDOLPH E. DREYER.
Rudolph E. Dreyer is president and manager of the Moore Hardware and Iron Com- pany of Denver, in which connection an extensive business has been developed. Theirs is one of the oldest commercial establishments of the city and throughout the entire period of its existence, covering forty-seven years, has maintained an unassailable repu tation for the integrity as well as the enterprise of its business methods. Its presiding
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genius, Rudolph E. Dreyer, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, September 26, 1871, and is a son of William A. and Magdalena (Gartner) Dreyer. The father was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and was a Civil war veteran, having volunteered for active service during the period of hostilities between the north and the south. He died in the year 1890, while his wife, surviving for a considerable period, passed away in 1907. They were the parents of ten children, of whom six are living.
Rudolph E. Dreyer pursued his education in parochial and public schools of Baltimore and remained a resident of that city until he came to Denver in 1893. He has been identified with the Moore Hardware and Iron Company since 1895 and in this connection has steadily worked his way upward from a minor position to that of manager and president of the company. They are jobbers of shelf, heavy. wagon and carriage hard- ware, iron, steel and wagon material, tools and supplies, with office and salesrooms at Fifteenth and Wazee streets and a warehouse at Thirteenth and Wazee streets, bordering the tracks. The present officers of the company, aside from Mr. Dreyer, are G. C. Moore, vice president; L. L. Moore, vice president; M. P. Moore, secretary; and C. C. Moore, treas- urer. This business was established in 1871 by John M. Moore and was continued under his name until 1878, when the admission of his son to a partnership led to the adoption of the firm style of J. M. Moore & Son. The next change occurred in 1883, when the firm name of J. M. Moore's Sons was adopted, and in 1899 the business was incorporated under the present style of the Moore Hardware and Iron Company, at which time it was capi- talized for seventy thousand dollars, Mr. Dreyer being one of the three original incor- porators. The company carries an exceptionally large line of contractors' and black- smith supplies and their trade extends throughout Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming, all of which is covered by traveling salesmen. Their salesroom contains thirty-two thousand square feet of floor space, while the warehouse contains thirty-five thousand square feet. All of this great space is filled with every variety of goods handled by a strictly first-class hardware and iron house, and something of the volume of their business is indicated in the fact that they have forty five employes.
In 1913 Mr. Dreyer was united in marriage to Miss Cora A. Wilcox, who was born in Evanston, Illinois, a daughter of Dr. C. B. Wilcox. They have two children, Mary Wilcox and Margaret Madeline. Mr. Dreyer belongs to the Denver Civic and Commercial Asso- ciation and also to the Park Hill Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful part. His support and influence are always given to plans and measures for the general good and his labors are a concrete factor in many projects for the uplift of the individual and the betterment of the community at large. He is a progressive man, actuated by the spirit of advancement in all that he undertakes whether for the promotion of his individual fortunes, the welfare of his city and state, or the upbuilding of his church.
CHARLES O'CONNOR.
Charles O'Connor, a well known patrolman of Pueblo, was born in County Kerry, Ireland, in June, 1856, and is a son of Larry and Mary ( Nolan) O'Connor. Charles O'Connor remained a resident of the Emerald isle for only three years, for at the end of that time his parents brought their family to the United States, establishing their home in Connecticut in 1859. After residing there for a time they removed to Chicago, where Mr. O'Connor passed away but the mother is still living.
Charles O'Connor was educated in the public schools of Chicago and in his youthful days and early manhood was employed at various occupations. He resolved, however, to try his fortunes in the west and came to Colorado in 1877, when this was still a western frontier state. In 1879 he engaged in railroad work and after a year went to the San Juan country during the mining excitement there. While a resident of that district he served as city marshal of Durango, covering the years from 1881 until 1883 inclusive. He after- ward returned to Pueblo and it was about that time, or in 1884, that he married Miss Margaret Sullivan. The children of this marriage are: Charles L., who is a resident of California; and Raymond D., who was accidentally killed at the age of twenty-seven years.
It was in 1887 that Mr. O'Connor joined the police force of Pueblo and he has since been active in that connection. He served as chief of the department in 1891 and 1892 under Mayor William Hamilton and has been on the force practically ever since, making an excellent record by the prompt and fearless manner in which he discharges his duties.
Mr. O'Connor has always been a democrat in his political affiliations and an earnest worker in behalf of the party. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church.
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He was well known as an Indian fighter in the San Juan country and participated in many sangninary engagements with the red men, being wounded on several occasions but always bearing his full share in inflicting punishment upon the savage red tribes. His long residence in Colorado has made him thoroughly familiar with the history of pioneer development in this state and his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present.
L. H. BECK, M. D.
Dr. L. H. Beck has been actively engaged in the practice of medicine and sur- gery in Manitou for nearly two decades and enjoys an enviable reputation as one of the leading representatives of the profession in El Paso connty. He was born on a farm in Seneca county, Ohio, in 1867, a son of John B. Beck, whose birth occurred in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1837. In 1850 the latter accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, where he later wedded Miss Elizabeth Gassman, a native of that state. Mrs. Beck passed away in Ohio in January, 1913, being survived for three years by her husband, whose demise occurred in Colorado Springs in 1916. Through- ont his active business career John B. Beck was successfully engaged in general agricultural pursuits.
L. H. Beck pursued his education in the rural schools of his native county and when a young man of nineteen years took up the profession of teaching, remaining an instructor in the public schools of Ohio from 1886 until 1890. During the last three years of that period he taught in Seneca county, Ohio. He then entered Heidel- berg University of Tiffin, Ohio, where he pursned a five years' classical course, win- ning honors and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts npon his gradnation with the class of 1895, of which he was salntatorian. Having determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he became a student in the Ohio Medical University of Columbus bnt because of impaired health came to Colorado and completed his training in Gross Medical College of Denver, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. in April, 1898. In June of the same year he received the degree of Master of Arts from Heidelberg University of Tiffin. Ohio. The year 1899 witnessed his arrival in Man- itou, Colorado, where he has followed his profession continuously since, enjoying a large and growing practice that has been accorded him in recognition of his pro- nonneed skill and success in the field of medical science. He belongs to the El Paso County Medical Society, the Colorado State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Medicine. Dr. Beck was one of twenty-five delegates appointed in the United States to represent the American Academy of Med- icine in the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, which was held in Washington, D. C., from September 23 until September 28, 1912.
On the 7th of November, 1900, Dr. Beck was united in marriage to Miss Minnie D. Zimmer and they occupy an enviable position in the social circles of Manitou. The Doctor gives his political allegiance to the republican party, while his religious faith is that of the Reformed church. He enjoys the confidence and esteem of his pro- fessional brethren in an unusual degree and has long been ranked among the leading medical practitioners of his part of the state.
JAMES GRANT HAINLINE. M. D.
Dr. James Grant Hainline, a physician and surgeon of Denver, with offices at No. 411 Jacobson block, was born October 24. 1861, in Blandinsville, Illinois, a son of William C. Hainline, who was born in Montgomery connty, Kentucky, and represented one of the old pioneer families of that state. He was a son of George Hainline, whose father; also named George Hainline, went with Daniel Boone to Kentucky at a period when that state was known as the "dark and bloody ground." They were among the first white men within its borders. The Hainline family was founded in America by George Hainline, who came from Alsace Lorraine in 1789 and first settled in Virginia. George Hainline, his son and grandfather of Dr. James G. Hainline, was a pioneer settler of McDonough county, Illinois, where he took up his abode in 1839. William C. Hainline, the father of Dr. Hainline, was a successful farmer, who died in Illinois at the age of eighty-one years, his wife passing away in 1892 at the age of sixty-five years. She was the first white child born in MeDonough county, Illinois. She bore the maiden name of Sarah
DR. L. H. BECK
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Elizabeth Logan and was a close relative of General John A. Logan, the Logans being an old pioneer family of Kentucky. She became the mother of ten children, six sons and four daughters.
Dr. Hainline of this review was the fifth in order of birth in that family. He ac- quired his early education in the public schools of Illinois and completed his more specifically literary course in the State Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri, from which he was graduated with the class of 1887. He then took up the profession of teach- ing and while thus engaged he devoted his leisure hours to reading and studying medi- cine. He afterward entered the Keokuk Medical College at Keokuk, Iowa, which conferred upon him his professional degree upon his graduation as a member of the class of 1892. Following his graduation he entered upon active practice at Keokuk. lowa, where he remained until 1899. He then removed to Denver, where he arrived on the 6th of April of that year. and on the 28th of the same month he opened his present office in the Jacobson block, where he has since remained. Throughout all the intervening years he has conducted a general practice with success and his business has steadily increased. He is very careful in the diagnosis of his cases and conscientious in the performance of his professional duties and his ability is attested by the liberal patronage now extended him. Dr. Hainline deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. He worked his own way through college, doing all manner of work in order to provide the necessary funds, including the sale of milk, the conduct of a boarding house and school-teaching. In this way he earned the money that enabled him to pay the expenses of his college course and prepare for a professional career. He certainly deserves much credit and his life record indicates what can be accomplished by determined effort, supplemented by laudable ambition.
At Milton, Iowa, on the 6th of March, 1889, Dr. Hainline was united in marriage to Miss Maretta Gilfillan, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Dr. George W. and Josephine (Schwartz) Gilfillan. both of whom were pioneer settlers of Iowa, coming originally from Washington county, Pennsylvania. The mother is still living and now makes her home with Dr. and Mrs. Hainline in Denver at the age of eighty-five years. She is a graduate in music of the Washington Seminary and has been a most noted pianist. Even at her advanced age she will play four hours at a time without stopping. To. Dr. and Mrs. Hainline have been born two children, Mary Edna and Geneve.
In politics Dr. Hainline is a republican. His people were originally whigs and they left Kentucky on account of their opposition to slavery. Dr. Hainline was reared in the Baptist church. His grandfather, John Logan, was a Baptist divine and preached to the Black Hawk Indians before they were sent from Illinois. Dr. Hainline belongs to various fraternal orders, including the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights and Ladies of Security. Along strictly professional lines he has membership connections with the Denver County & City Medical Society, the Colorado State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He turns to motoring and farming for rest and recreation. He is the owner of a farm at Fort Lupton and another at Rocky Ford, Colorado, and he greatly enjoys making visits to these properties and supervising their development. His residence is situated at No. 810 Steele street, where he occupies an attractive and beautiful bungalow. His affairs have been carefully managed and the success which has come to him is the direct and merited reward of earnest, persistent labor, most wisely and intelligently directed.
THOMAS J. PATTERSON.
Well defined business purposes, combined with indefatigable energy, have brought Thomas J. Patterson to a creditable place in business circles of Denver, he being the vice president of the R. Hardesty Manufacturing Company. He had been with the firm for two years as sales manager when he was called to the vice presidency, since which time he has been active in shaping the policy and directing the activities of the house. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. January 26, 1873, a son of the late Thomas Patterson, a native of Ireland, who came to the new world in 1848. Establishing his home.in Cleve- land. Ohio. the latter there continued to reside throughout his remaining days. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted for active service in defense of the Union as a member of an Ohio regiment, with which he remained until the close of hostilities, and on one occasion was wounded in battle. He was in business life a contractor and builder and was among the early builders of city, county and state roads in Ohio. In politics he was a stanch democrat and was a close friend of Tom L. Johnson, Cleveland's distinguished
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mayor. The death of Thomas Patterson occurred in Cleveland in 1910, when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-seven years. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Anna Goldrick, was born in Ireland and came to the United States in the latter '40s, settling in Cleveland, where she met Mr. Patterson, who sought her hand in mar- riage. To them were born seven children, five sons and two daughters. The mother passed away in 1900 at the age of sixty-seven years.
Thomas J. Patterson, who was the sixth in order of birth in the family, was educated in the parochial schools of Cleveland and in St. Mary's Institute of Dayton, Ohio, and when fifteen years of age started out independently in the business world to provide for his support. He was first employed at driving a team for his father. for whom he worked for two years. He was then apprenticed to the trade of heater in a Cleveland rolling mill and was employed along that line for five years. He next removed to Port- land, Oregon, and became a commercial traveler for the firm of Beall & Company, dealers in road machinery and road building equipment. He remained with that firm until January, 1914, when he removed to Denver and entered into association with R. Hardesty as sales manager. After filling that position for two years he was made vice president and has since occupied that position of executive control. He is a member of the board of directors of the Manufacturers Association of Denver and is accorded an enviable posi- tion in the business circles of the city.
In Cleveland, Ohio, on the 26th of April, 1898. Mr. Patterson wedded Miss Mary E. McGirl, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Thomas and Maria ( Moran) MeGirl, who belonged to old familles of Boston of Irish descent and who have now passed away.
Mr. Patterson is of Catholic faith, being a communicant of St. Philomena's church. In politics he votes with the democratic party where national issues are involved and has been recognized as one of the political leaders of Denver. He is grand knight of the Denver Council of the Knights of Columbus and belongs to the Denver Athletic Club. the Lakewood Country Club and. the Denver Motor Club. He turns to motor- ing for recreation and is a strong advocate of the good roads movement. Step by step he has worked his way upward in his business career and his energies and efforts have brought him to a creditable position as a successful business man and one who merits the confidence and goodwill of those with whom he has been brought in contact.
ALDERSON A. BLAKLEY.
Alderson A. Blakley, one of the most prominent stockmen of Denver, whose name is well known throughout the country among stock dealers and cattle men, is president of the Blakley Commission Company, with offices in the Live Stock Exchange. He was born in Highland, Kansas, March 17, 1859, and is the son of Charles and Vilena (Lewis) Blakley, the former a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, while the latter was born in Inde- pendence, Missouri. The father went to Missouri in early life and was married there. Later he engaged in the live stock business and on the 21st of March, 1873, he removed to Denver, where he continued active in live stock operations to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1887. His wife passed away in Denver in 1886. Their family num- bered eight children, five of whom are still living, Alderson A. being the fifth in order of birth. The others are: P. W., J. C. and C. P., all living in Denver; and D. L., a resident of Hotchkiss, Colorado.
Alderson A. Blakley attended school in Missouri and in 1876, when a youth of seventeen years, went to the Black Hills in search of gold, spending a year there. In the spring of 1877 he came to Denver and for two years thereafter was employed on the Copeland ranch. Later he went to Leadville, where he engaged in mining. He returned to Denver in 1880 and subsequently worked for the Union Pacific Railway Company in connection with the freight department at Denver for twenty years. On the expiration of that period he resigned and became connected with the Stock Yards Company as assist- ant superintendent and weighmaster. Eight years were spent in that connection, at the end of which time he bought out the business of Barnes & Company, a large stock com- mission firm, and has since been engaged in the live stock commission business on his own account. Through the intervening period he has been very successful and he ranks today as one of the most prominent stockmen, operating extensively on the Denver live stock market. He is not only well known locally but his name is a familiar one among cattle men and stock raisers throughout the west. He is a member of the Live Stock Exchange, of which he served as the second president, and
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