USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 34
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Alfred Garrow Prey was a pupil in the rural schools and in the Nebraska City schools and at the age of eighteen years became actively connected with the stock busi- ness upon a ranch. In fact he has since been interested in ranching and is yet the owner of a large ranch property in western Nebraska. In 1897, in company with his brother, William D., he opened a commission business at St. Joseph. Missouri, where he remained until 1914, when he sold out and removed to Denver. In 1908. Prey Brothers purchased the business of the Colorado Live Stock Company in Denver, and William D. Prey took charge of that business. Their interests in both St. Joseph and Denver were continued until 1914, when the business in the former city was disposed of and A. G. Prey came to Denver. Upon the organization of the Prey Brothers Live Stock Commis- sion Company, William D. Prey became president and A. G. Prey, vice president, and on death of the former in 1916, A. G. Prey became president and so continues. While he started business here in a small way. his interests have grown to extensive proportions, his sales being the second largest of any firm in Denver in 1917 and for several years previous his was the largest in the amount of sales. He has various other important interests, being a director and treasurer of the Cherry County Cattle Company of Nebraska, also a director of the Cross Y Cattle Company of Nebraska. a director of the East Oregon Lumber Company and a director of the Hurricane Mining and Milling Company of Aspen, Colorado, owning a silver and lead property. Of this company he is now vice president.
In March. 1896, Mr. Prey was married in Nebraska to Miss Clara Jackson, of Streator. Illinois, and they have become parents of four children: Norma, now Mrs. William A.
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Schroeder. of Denver; Du Val, who was born in Nebraska and is now a medical student at Boulder; and Mildred and Viola, who were born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and are now pupils in the Denver schools.
Mr. Prey belongs to the Live Stock Exchange, is a member of the Lions Club, of the Denver Athletic Club and of the Masonic fraternity. In the last named he has at- tained high rank and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. His interests are broad and varied, his activities wisely directed and the enterprise and keen discernment which he displays in his business affairs have brought him prominently to the front in connection with live stock commission interests of Denver and the west.
WAYNE A. GUNKLE.
Wayne A. Gunkle, engaged in the general practice of law in Denver, was born in Martinsville, Illinois, January 5. 1872. His father, Anthony Wayne Gunkle, was a native of Kentucky but spent the greater part of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he engaged in brick manufacturing. He married Anna Mclaughlin, who was born in Sligo, Ireland, and both have now passed away.
Wayne A. Gunkle was a pupil in the public schools of Indianapolis. Indiana, from 1878 until 1888 and through the following year was a student in a business college of that city. He afterward became a special student in the law school of the University of Denver, which he attended from 1910 until 1914. and in the latter year the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him. He was admitted to practice at the bar of Colorado upon exam- ination before the supreme court on the 30th of December, 1913. Before deciding to become a lawyer, however, he spent ten years as a telegraph operator and for twelve years was in the engineering department of the board of public works of Denver as a rodman, chainman, draftsman, and also in clerical work. He became imbued with the desire to enter a field of labor that he believed would give him broader scope and entered upon preparation for the bar, with the result that he was admitted to practice in 1913, and through the intervening period, covering five years. he has been engaged in the general practice of law. He is building up a large clientele and the litigated interests entrusted to his care have as a whole been of an important character. He is careful, thorough and painstaking in the preparation of his cases and in presenting his cause before court or jury shows marked strength and resourcefulness. He is a director of the Amazon Oil Company and is also interested in other financial and commercial enter- prises.
In politics Mr. Gunkle is a democrat and has been an active worker in the party. He possesses a decisive and forceful character, commendable ambition and well developed talents and powers, and thus he is constantly advancing in his professional career.
FRANK M. STOLL.
Frank M. Stoll is president of a manufacturing company which is the outgrowth of one of the newest yet most rapidly growing industries in the country. He is the execu- tive head of the Stoll Manufacturing Company, makers of automobile tents and heds and auto camping accessories, his establishment being located in Denver, and is also president of the Queen City Iron & Wire Company. A comparatively young man, he already occupies an important position in the commercial circles of the capital city of the state.
Mr. Stoll is a native son of Colorado, born in Denver, July 8. 1882. His mother is also a native of this city. His parents are Moritz and Hannah (Dickhut) Stoll. the former of whom crossed the ocean to America with his parents at the age of eight. the family locating in Minnesota. He was reared and educated in that state and upon attain- ing his majority removed to Denver, where he arrived in 1858 and engaged in contracting, continuing successfully in that line of business for many years. He acquired a compe- tence and is now living retired in the Queen City, enjoying the fruits of his former lahors. Mrs. Stoll is also living. Six children were born to this union, of whom Frank M. is the second in order of birth.
Frank M. Stoll attended the public schools of his native city and in order to better prepare himself for a commercial career later attended the Denver Business College. He then entered the ornamental iron business and subsequently organized the Queen City Iron & Wire Works, of which he has since been the head. The business was begun
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on a small scale but had shown such satisfactory growth up to 1906 that Mr. Stoll decided upon incorporation, which was accomplished in that year, and he has since been the president of the company. He is the patentee of what is known as the anto bed and tent for camping and outdoor life and also manufactures from twenty-five to thirty dif- ferent accessories tor auto camping. This latter business was added to the former one in 1913. The company also manufactures motorcycle seats and other articles of which Mr. Stoll is the patentee. The company is now known as the Stoll Manufacturing Com- pany. In both enterprises about fifty experienced hands are employed and the work turned out is highly satisfactory to the trade and the public. Mr. Stoll's executive ability and inventive genius are largely responsible for the success of the business, which has grown within a short time to such gratifying proportions.
In 1907, in Denver. Mr. Stoll was united in marriage to Miss Anna Schiller. and to them have been born two sons: Paul, born in Denver in 1907; and Frank, also born in this city in 1908. Both are attending school.
In politics Mr. Stoll is independent, supporting the candidates whom he considers best fitted for the offices to which they aspire without taking into consideration party issues. He is a member of the Manufacturers Association, and he and his family are prominent in the social life of the city in which they reside. In the business world he is regarded as a man of the highest principles and by the development of a new industry has contributed toward the growth and upbuilding of his native city.
ALFRED CORDINGLY.
Manufacturing interests of Colorado are prominently represented by Alfred Cor- dingly, president of the Queen City Foundry Company of Denver, who through the development of his establishment has largely contributed to the reputation of Colorado as a young manufacturing state. The growth of the city of Denver has been stimu- lated by the development of this vast industrial enterprise, which is likely to prove the forerunner of a number of other industries which gradually will build up the fame of Colo- rado as an industrial state, while as yet it is mostly known as a mining, agricultural and sight-seeing state. Mr. Cordingly, one of the early and honored pioneers of Denver, was the original founder of what is now the Queen City Foundry Company, said to be, by those who know, the largest foundry between Kansas City and San Francisco. Many years ago it had its birth as a small and unimportant enterprise but in the course of years, through the persistency of purpose and undoubted business ability of Mr. Cordingly, it has attained to its present size, its vast output having made the firm nationally known.
Alfred Cordingly was born in Peoria, Illinois, in April, 1855, a son of William and Sarah Cordingly, both natives of England. The father emigrated to America in 1848 and located in Maysville, Kentucky, in that year. In 1852 he was married and later he and his wife removed to the state of Illinois, where they resided for a number of years. In 1887 they came to Colorado, taking up their residence in Denver, and there in 1892 Mrs. Cordingly passed away. Mr. Cordingly, who was born in 1823, survived hier until 1901, when, in his seventy-fourth year, he was called to his final rest, his demise also occurring in Denver. To this union were born seven children: Frank, who resides in Denver and is engaged in the foundry business with his brother Alfred; George, also engaged in that line; William, Harvey and Elizabeth, all of Denver; and Mrs. Ray Shank, also residing in this city.
Alfred Cordingly spent his boyhood under the parental roof in Illinois and at- tended public school in Peoria. Having completed his school course, he became appren- ticed to the foundry business as a moider and after having served out his term decided to seek the undeveloped but more promising opportunities of the newer west and arrived in Pueblo, Colorado, after having accomplished the overland journey .. When he arrived in this state he was without funds, his financial status making immediate employment absolutely necessary. and he secured a position in Pueblo, but remained for only a short time. In March, 1879, he came to Denver and in May, following, went to Leadville, where he was prospecting and also worked at his trade. In the fall of 1880 he returned to Denver and entered the employ of the Colorado Iron Works, and for about twelve years, or until 1891, he worked at his trade, holding good posi- tions at remunerative wages and carefully saving his earnings. Ambitious to engage in business on his own account he established in the latter year a small foundry across the street from his present large establishment, his first building being forty by sixty feet. This was the beginning of the great Queen City Foundry Company
ALFRED CORDINGLY
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and even Mr. Cordingly probably did not foresee the future which his business was going to have. He incorporated the enterprise in February, 1893, being himself elected president, and he has ever since been the executive head of the foundry, directing its affairs with foresight and ability. His thorough knowledge of the trade, having been acquired from his apprenticeship until he began business on his own account in 1891 aud covering nearly all phases of foundry work, enables him to understand every piece of work done in his shop and he can therefore judge of the quality and work- manship of his products, thus being assured that no piece of work leaves his estab- lishment without being up to standard. Moreover, Mr. Cordingly has great executive force and is not only successful in the direction of his operatives but has also shown great ability in the administration of the business affairs of the company. He follows the highest ethics in commercial transactions and the goods turned out by the Queen City Foundry Company come up to the highest qualifications and are always what they are represented to be. It is therefore but natural that the business has grown by leaps and bounds and has become a very important one. The force employed numbers about one hundred and twenty and the establishment uses a large acreage on Fourth and Wazee streets, with ample railroad trackage that connects the foundry directly with main railroad lines, so that shipping facilities are of the best and de- liveries greatly accelerated.
On June 23, 1875, in Urbana, Illinois, Mr. Cordingly was married to Miss Sarah Roughton and of this union two children are living. Hazel A., born in Denver, married Charles T. Kennedy, secretary of the Queen City Foundry Company, and they have two children, Charles E. and Thomas R. George A., also a native of Denver, is treasurer of the Queen City Foundry Company and is now serving his country as a captain of infantry in France. He also is married and has a daughter, Betty Cordingly. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Cordingly also lost two children, Ida and Charlotte.
Alfred Cordingly is a republican but his manifold duties connected with his busi- ness have not permitted him to actively enter politics, although he is deeply interested in the growth of Denver and is ever ready to give support to its development. Fra- ternally he is prominent in the Masons, belonging to the blue lodge and also to the temple and shrine. He is a forceful and resourceful man who has fought life's battle successfully and is today numbered among the prominent manufacturers of the state, having built up a business the reputation of which extends from coast to coast. His fairness, his high ideals as to business conduct, his strength of character and his cordiality toward his fellowmen and his employes, whom he treats as co-workers, have been the foundation upon which his success has been built. In the social circles of the city the family is well known, occupying a foremost position among those members of society who are interested in the higher things of life.
P. J. POTHUISJE, M. D.
Dr. P. J. Pothuisje is a well known medical practitioner of Denver, where he has successfully followed his profession since 1905. His birth occurred in St. Jacobi Pa- rochie, Holland, on the 27th of February, 1866, his parents being Jurjens and Sijbrigje (Boonstra) Pothuisje, who were also natives of that country. In 1867 they crossed the Atlantic to the United States and first located in Michigan but a short time later established their home in Newton county, Indiana, where the father purchased land and carried on general agricultural pursuits throughout the remainder of his life. The mother, who survives, still resides on the old homestead in Indiana. Their family numbered three children, namely: P. J., of this review; John, who makes his home in Indiana; and August, who died in childhood.
P. J. Pothuisje acquired his early education in the public schools of the Hoosier state, pursuing a high school course at Goodland, Indiana. Subsequently he con- tinued his studies in De Pauw University of Greencastle, Indiana. and following his course therefrom entered the Starling-Ohio Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, where the degree of M. D. was conferred upon him in 1893. He at once opened an office at Remington, Indiana, near his old home, and there continued successfully in the prac- tice of medicine and surgery for twelve years. On the expiration of that period, in 1905, he decided to come to the west and established his home in Denver, where he has since remained and has won an enviable reputation as a skilled representative of his profession. He has done post-graduate work in The Chicago Post Graduate School, The Chicago Polyclinic and The New York Post Graduate School, pursuing several special courses and giving particular attention to diagnosis. He is consulting phy-
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sician and a member of the staff of St. Anthony's Hospital and belongs to the Denver County and City Medical Society, the Colorado State Medical Society and the Amer- ican Medical Association.
In October, 1899, in Remington. Indiana, Dr. Pothuisje was united in marriage to Miss Lois Renette Taber, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver P. Taber and a represen- tative of a well known and prominent family of that place. The Doctor and his wife have two daughters: Lois Jeannette, who was born in Remington, Indiana, in 1900 and is a graduate of the North Deuver high school; and Lucille Juliet, whose birth occurred in Remington, Indiana, in 1901 and who is now in her senior year at the North Denver high school.
In politics Dr. Pothuisje is a republican. He belongs to the Denver Athletic Club and is also identified with the Denver Civic and Commercial Association, while fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias. In both social and pro- fessional circles of his adopted city he has gained well deserved popularity and his practice has reached extensive and lucrative proportions.
LOU F. WILLOUGHBY.
Lou F. Willoughby, manager of the American Type Founders Company of Denver, was born July 6. 1868, in Boscobel, Wisconsin. His father, the late William G. Wil- loughby, was a native of that state and a representative of one of its pioneer families. His father was Thomas Willoughby, the founder of the American branch of the family, being of English birth. He came to the new world about 1825 and died at the venerable age of ninety years. He originally settled in Grant county, Wisconsin, where he con- tinued to follow the profession of teaching throughout his entire life. His son, William G. Willoughby, was reared and educated in Wisconsin and also took up the profession of teaching, to which he devoted his energies until after the outbreak of the Civil war. when he enlisted as a member of the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Infantry, with which he remained throughout the period of hostilities. He was wounded and was taken prisoner, being sent to Andersonville, while later he was exchanged. He returned with a most creditable military record and after the close of the war he maintained pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership in the Harvard ( Neb.) Post, G. A. R. He died in Denver in 1904, at the age of sixty years, his birth having occurred in 1844. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary E. Mills and was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Mills, natives of the Empire state and pioneer settlers of Wisconsin. Mrs. Wil- loughby passed away in Denver in 1911, at the age of sixty-three years. her birth having occurred in 1848.
Lou F. Willoughby was the oldest in a family of three sons and three daughters. He was educated in the public schools of Wisconsin and Nebraska and when a youth of but twelve years started out to provide for his own support, for his father's health failed and the son had to take up the responsibilities of the family, being the eldest of six children. He was apprenticed to learn the printer's trade at Montfort, Wisconsin. serving a three years' term of indenture. In 1892 he accepted a position with John Creswell, proprietor of the Denver Type Foundry, and remained with him until the death of Mr. Creswell in 1900, at which time Mr. Willoughby became manager of the company, which had been established a quarter of a century before and of which Mr. Creswell had been manager. The business was afterward sold to the American Type Founders Com- pany and Mr. Willoughby continues as manager, carefully directing the interests of the business at this point. He is also half owner of the industry conducted under the name of the Dry Climate Ink & Roller Company.
Mr. Willoughby has been married twice. In Denver. in 1892 he wedded Miss Pearl E. Hunt and they became parents of a son, Harold S., who has enlisted and is now with the coast artillery in California. On the 16th of June, 1909, Mr. Willoughby was married in Denver to Miss Jean S. Ruppenthal. They reside at No. 1351 Garfield street, where Mr. Willoughby owns an attractive home. He turns for rest and recreation to motoring, fishing and golf.
In politics, where national issues are involved. Mr. Willoughby gives his allegiance to the republican party but at local elections casts an independent ballot. Fraternally he is a Mason, having taken the degrees of lodge and chapter, and he also belongs to Denver Lodge, No. 17, B. P. O. E., and to the Woodmen of the World. He is likewise a member of the Colorado State Editorial Association, also the National Editorial Associa- tion, the Denver Motor Club, the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and the Denver Manufacturers Association. These connections indicate the breadth and nature
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of his interests. While in Nebraska he served in the state militia and took part in the campaign against the noted Indian chieftain, Sitting Bull. He may truly be called a self-made man and deserves all the credit which that term implies.
MERTON MELVILLE ROBBINS.
It is very unusual that three generations of one family should remain at the head of a single business enterprise, but such is the record of the store that is known throughout Colorado Springs as "Robbins on the Corner." This establishment is now owned and managed by Merton Melville Robbins, a young man of twenty-two years. He was born in the city where he still resides, a son of Bertram G. Robbins and a grandson of D. W. Robbins. He acquired his education in the city schools of Colorado Springs, eventually becoming a high school student, while later he attended Brown's Business College. He afterward entered the store of his father, who had passed away in 1913, and in September, 1917, upon attaining his majority, he took over the business that had been established in the year 1885 at Nos. 23 and 25 East Huerfano street, where a stock of men's clothing was opened to the public and for fifteen years the store was con- ducted at the original location. But the growth of the trade made it necessary to secure larger quarters in order to house the greatly increased stock of goods. Accord- ingly in the year 1900 the business was removed to its present location and has since been known throughout Colorado Springs as "Robbins on the Corner." In 1918 the store celebrated its thirty-third anniversary by holding an informal reception on the afternoon and evening of June 13th. Upon the death of D. W. Robbins, the founder of the business, the management was taken over by his son, Bertram G. Robbins, in 1900. The latter was one of the best loved men in the city and his friends were legion. He possessed many sterling traits of character which made for popularity and high regard and his death was the occasion of the deepest and most widespread regret. As Merton M. Robbins was at that time in his minority, the control of the business passed to Ray R. Robbins, a brother of B. G. Robbins, who was in charge from 1913 until 1917, but when Merton M. Robbins reached his majority on the 11th of September, 1917, he assumed active control of the business and has displayed the same spirit and ability that characterized his father. He is a young man of sound judgment and of unfalter- ing enterprise and bids fair to make the name of Robbins even more honored than it has been in the past. What he has already accomplished indicates that his future career will be well worthy of observation.
On the 20th of September, 1917, in Colorado Springs, Mr. Robbins was married to Miss Katharine Madeline Considine, a daughter of the late James Considine, and they now have a son, Bertram James, who was born June 21, 1918.
Fraternally Mr. Robbins is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, with the Modern Woodmen of America and with the Woodmen of the World. In politics he maintains an independent course, voting without regard to party ties. He stands for that which is progressive in citi- zenship and in business affairs is displaying initiative and ingenuity, which are evi- denced in his successful conduct of the business. He is today at the head of one of the largest and best appointed clothing stores in the west and the policy of the house has ever merited the highest confidence and regard.
FRANK J. EVANS, M. D.
Among the well known representatives of the medical profession in Denver is Dr. Frank J. Evans, whose comparative youth is no bar to his progress. On the contrary, he is thoroughly conversant with the most modern scientific methods and the most progressive steps in medical and surgical practice and his ability is winning for him a liberal and well deserved patronage. Denver is proud to number him among her native sons. He was born on the 24th of February, 1890, of the marriage of George and Bertha (Henry) Evans, both of whom are natives of Iowa. The father is a representative of one of the pioneer families of that state, of Welsh and Irish lineage. He was reared and educated in lowa and in 1880 came to Colorado, settling in Denver, where for many years he was connected with the Argo smelter but is now living retired, enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly merits. His wife is also living and they reared a family of five children, two sons and three daughters.
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