USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 42
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the Young Men's Christian Association at Camp Cody. His professional work has done much to raise musical standards in the state and has added much to the enjoyment of all music lovers.
WALTER LEWIS PIERS.
Walter Lewis Piers, a chemist and assayer of Denver, was born in this city, November 30. 1885, a son of Walter A. Piers, who is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to the fifteenth century. Walter A. Piers was reared and educated in Halifax and thence came to the United States. In the latter '70s he settled in Denver and was engaged for many years in the farm implement business but is now living retired. He married Clara Sampson, a native of England and also a resident of Denver. They have become the parents of five children, four sons and a daughter.
Walter Lewis Piers of this review was the eldest of the family and was educated in the public and high schools of Denver. He then attended the School of Mines at Golden, Colorado, from which he was graduated in 1904 with the degree of Mining Engi- neer. Following the completion of his course there he took up mining as a life work and continued active in that field until 1912. when he established an assaying laboratory at No. 428 Eighteenth street in Denver. The business was started in a comparatively small way but has grown steadily and his establishment has come to be recognized as one of the most reliable assaying offices in the state. He has built up a very satisfactory business and has clients from all over the world.
In November, 1912, Mr. Piers was united in marriage to Miss Edna M. Meier. a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Meier, both of whom are residents of Davenport. Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Piers make their home at No. 1091 South Ogden avenue, where they own an attractive home. In his political views Mr. Piers maintains an independent course, not caring to ally himself with any party. He is an auxiliary member of the Colorado Manu- facturers Association. His has been an active and well spent life. He provided for his university course, realizing the value of advanced educational training as a preparation for life's practical and responsible duties. Whatever success he has achieved, and it is of no mean character, is due entirely to his persistency of purpose, his laudable ambition and his unfaltering energy. He finds his chief diversion. in hunting and fishing and in scientific research. He is a lover of outdoor life and when opportunity offers enjoys a hunting or fishing trip. He is also a lover of knowledge and is continually adding to his information by earnest, intense study. He has thus made good use of his time and talents and has steadily progressed in the business world.
ROBERT VAIL BARKALOW.
Robert Vail Barkalow is the vice president and secretary of the Chemical Produc- tion Company, with offices in the Majestic building in Denver. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, August 26, 1881, and comes of Dutch ancestry, the family having been founded in America at Amsterdam, New York, during the early colonization of the new world. The father, the late Derrick Vail Barkalow, was a native of Ohio and was a railroad news contractor, which business he followed during the greater part of his life. A sketch of Derrick V. Barkalow appears upon another page of this volume.
Robert Vail Barkalow was educated in the public and high schools of Denver. in St. Paul's school of Concord, New Hampshire, and in Yale University at New Haven. He was graduated from that time-honored institution with the class of 1904, winning the Ph. D. degree. After his graduation he returned to Denver and became associated with his father in the railroad news business, continuing in that connection for eleven years. He next became associated with Lafayette Hughes in organizing and establishing the business of the Chemical Products Company, with office and home plant in Denver and a branch manufacturing plant in Chicago, Illinois. The Chemical Products Company is engaged in the manufacture of barium chloride, barium carbonate, barium dioxide, barium nitrate, barium sulphate, barium sulphide, sodium sulphide, iron vanadate. molybdic acid, ammonium molybdate, radium bromide, radium chloride and uranium oxide. In 1917 a separate corporation was formed, known as the Chemical Production Company, with headquarters in Denver and with a branch at Skinner, California. This company is engaged in the production of soda ash, caustic soda and muriate potash. The company is conducting one of the largest business enterprises of this kind in the west.
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Mr. Barkalow is also vice president of the Barkalow Brothers News Company, with headquarters at Omaha, and is president of the Barkalow Investment Company of Denver. His interests and activities are thus broad and varied. showing him to be a forceful and resourceful man. He sees and utilizes opportunities that others pass heedlessly by and has won success by so doing.
In Denver, on the 10th of 'June, 1914, Mr. Barkalow was united in marriage to Miss Mary Stearns, a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a daughter of John L. and Ella ( Powell) Stearns. The mother is still living and is a resident of Denver. To Mr. and Mrs. Barkalow have been born two daughters: Mary S., whose birth occurred in Denver, July 10, 1915; and Jean, born May 20, 1918. The family residence is at No. 170 Lafayette street. Mr. Barkalow turns to golf, tennis and horseback riding for recrea- tion. He belongs to the Chi Phi college fraternity, and he also has membership with the University Club, the Denver Country Club and the Denver Civic and Commercial Asso- ciation. His political belief is that of the republican party and his religious faith is indicated in his membership in St. John's Episcopal church. His entire career has been marked by steady progress and each forward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. While not without that laudable ambition which is so necessary as an incentive for activity in business life, he has never regarded the pursuit of wealth as the whole end and aim of his existence but on the contrary has recognized his duties and obligations in other connections and stands for all those forces which are most worth while as factors in the life of the individual and of the commonwealth.
WILLIAM G. EDWARDS.
William G. Edwards, who is engaged in the practice of his profession as an attorney at law in Denver, is located at 732 Equitable building. He was born at Bryn Mawr, Glamorganshire, Wales, January 18, 1865, a son of John T. and Martha (Griffiths) Edwards. His father was a successful merchant. One of his granduncles was John Edwards, the noted Welsh poet known wherever the Welsh language is spoken by his bardic title of Eos Glan Twrch, who came to America in 1828 and settled on a farm near Rome. New York.
Mr. Edwards received his preliminary education at the Wesleyan College, Taunton, Somersetshire, England, afterward spending about a year in France, and later con- tinuing his studies at the South Wales University College. In September, 1887, he came to America and in November of that year arrived in Denver and became connected with the investment and real estate business; later taking up the study of law, he entered the Denver Law School of the University of Denver, and graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1896 and that same year engaged in the practice of law in Denver, Colorado.
On the first of June, 1904, Mr. Edwards was united in marriage to Paula Josephine Bouck, of Brooklyn, New York. They have one son, William Griffith, born in Denver, Colorado, on May 14, 1905.
Professionally Mr. Edwards is connected with the Denver Bar Association and fra- ternally is a Mason belonging to Denver Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & A. M. He is also a member of the Denver Athletic Club.
GILES CRISSEY.
For many years Giles Crissey was a leading and substantial business man of Colo- rado Springs, where he conducted an extensive lumberyard. The community knew him as a progressive and reliable representative of commercial activity, and his friends enter- tained for him the highest regard because of the sterling worth of his character. He came to Colorado Springs in 1873. then a young man of thirty-two years, his birth having occurred in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1841. His father was Abraham Crissey and his grandfather bore the same name. The family has been represented in New England from early colonial days, having been founded in the new world in 1640.
Giles Crissey became a resident of Illinois in 1847. He was a young man in the early twenties when in response to the country's call for troops he offered his services to the Union, becoming a captain in the Eighty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served during the last two years of the war. He enlisted at Monmouth, Illinois, and made a most creditahle military record, inspiring the men under him with much of his courage and valor. Throughout his life he remained a loyal and patriotic citizen, being
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as devoted to the welfare of his country in days of peace as in times of war. The year 1873 witnessed the arrival of Mr. Crissey in Colorado. Seeking the opportunities of the west, he settled at Colorado Springs and a few years later established a lumberyard, which he conducted throughout his remaining days. His systematic management of his business interests, his enterprise and progressiveness and his thorough reliability con- stituted the salient features in his growing success. He carried on the business under the firm style of Crissey & Fowler and the old firm name is retained although the business is now owned by his two sons, Fred and Arthur Crissey. Mr. Fowler having withdrawn from the firm in 1917.
While residing in Illinois, Mr. Crissey was married to Miss Mary E. Mings, now living at Long Beach, California, and they became the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, Frederick Lynn, Gertrude E., Arthur Glenn and Harriet B., the last named the wife of R. M. Dickinson, of Long Beach, California.
Mr. Crissey was a republican in his political views and was always deeply interested in the welfare of community, commonwealth and country. His religious faith was that of the Congregational church and his life measured up to its teachings. He continued to make his home in Colorado Springs until 1908. when he removed to Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, and his remaining days were passed in that sunny clime, his death occurring on the 20th of December, 1914. He is yet remembered by many of the residents of Colo- rado Springs and this section of the state, who regarded him as one of the safe and reliable business men and substantial citizens of El Paso county.
WILLIAM STANLEY.
William Stanley is one of the successful citizens of Weld county. As the architect of bis own fortunes he has builded wisely and well. Although he had no special advan- tages when he started out upon his business career he has made steady progress by reason of his individual powers and determination and is today the owner of valuable farm property, from which he derives a very substantial annual income. He was born in Ontario, Canada, in October. 1868, and is a son of Robert and Jane (Cavanaugh ) Stanley, both of whom were also natives of Canada. The father was a farmer by occuption and engaged in tilling the soil in Canada for a number of years, after which he removed to Nebraska, purchasing land in Adams county. He there continued his farming opera- tions for a number of years and eventually took up a homestead claim, to the further development and improvement of which he devoted his energies throughout his remaining days. Both he and his wife passed away in 1887 and their genuine worth of character made their death a matter of deep regret to all who knew them.
William Stanley was reared in his native country and is indebted to its public school system for the educational privileges which qualified him for life's practical and re- sponsible duties. He remained with his parents until they were called to the home beyond, after which he started out to work by the month as a farm hand and was thus employed for several years. He was ambitious to engage in business on his own account, however, and carefully saved his earnings until his industry and economy brought him sufficient capital to purchase land. It was in 1892 that he came to Colorado, making his way to Weld county, where he continued to work at farm labor until 1902. He then rented the place upon which he now resides and cultivated it as a renter for a decade. He next purchased the property, which comprises one hundred acres of land, situated on sections 19 and 20, township 8, range 65. He has since cultivated this place, upon which he has now lived for twenty-two years, and his labors have wrought a wonderful trans- formation in its appearance. It is today one of the best improved farm properties in Weld county and is scarcely surpassed in the state. Upon the place are found com- modious buildings, furnishing ample shelter for grain and stock, together with the latest improved machinery to facilitate the work of the fields. Everything about the place presents a neat and thrifty appearance and indicates the careful supervision of a practical and progressive owner.
Mr. Stanley was united in marriage to Miss Marietta Finch, a daughter of Edward and Elizabeth ( Moreland) Finch. the former a native of New York and the latter of Illinois. Mr. Finch followed the occupation of farming in Illinois and afterward in Nebraska for many years and ultimately went to California, where he has resided for the past thirteen years. To Mr. and Mrs. Stanley have been born four children, namely: Earl D., who was born December 9, 1897; Ralph, born April 6, 1901; Arthur, born February 1. 1904; and Margaret, born February 3, 1909. The birth of Mrs. Stanley occurred near Seneca, Illinois, November 12, 1870, about a mile from the birthplace of her mother.
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In his political views Mr. Stanley is a democrat and he and his wite hold member- ship in the Christian church. He has never sought to figure prominently in any public connection outside of business but has concentrated his efforts and attention upon his farming interests, in which he has been very successful. Adding to his land as his financial resources have increased, he is now the owner of four hundred and eighty acres near Ault, Colorado, and he also has one hundred and ten acres in the home place. He has the larger place divided into three farms, all of which are well improved with good buildings, and these he rents out. He has done all of the work of improving the prop- erty and has paid out ten thousand dollars in cash in the past two years for improvements. He has recently completed a fine modern residence upon the home farm, which adjoins the town of Lucerne, Colorado, and there Mr. and Mrs. Stanley are most attractively and comfortably situated. The hospitality of their beautiful home is greatly enjoyed by their many friends and throughout Weld county they are widely and favorably known, Mr. Stanley standing as a representative of a progressive agriculturist who has improved the splendid opportunities that Colorado affords.
WILLIAM E. HUTTON.
William E. Hutton, general counsel of the Capitol Life Insurance Company at Denver. was born in Delavan, Wisconsin, August 10, 1872, a son of John Hutton, a native of the Empire state. The family comes of English ancestry represented for a long period at Lincolnshire. England. The first of the name to come to the new world was John Hutton, grandfather of William E. Hutton, who cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers of Wisconsin. He crossed the Atlantic about 1830 and first took up his abode in the state of New York, but during the early '40s made his way westward to Wisconsin and became a well known agriculturist of that section. There he spent his remaining days. His son and namesake, John Hutton, Jr., was reared and educated in Wisconsin and he, too, was actuated by the pioneer spirit that prompted western emigration and came to Colorado in 1879, taking up his abode in Leadville, where he followed mining. There he continued to reside until 1884, when he removed to Denver. Later he took up the occupation of farming in Adams county, Colorado, and is now living retired. His has been an active and useful life in which he has won a substantial measure of success that now enables him to rest from further labor and yet enjoy many of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life. He is a Civil war veteran and proudly wears the little bronze button that proclaims him a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He enlisted with a Wisconsin regiment and valiantly aided the cause in the struggle to preserve the Union. He now makes him home in Denver, where he and his wife are most comfortably situated. He wedded Mary Gaffney, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of John Gaffney, who was a pioneer of the Badger state and of Irish descent. Mr. and Mrs. Hutton were married in Wisconsin and to them were born five children, four sons and a daughter, of whom William E. is the eldest.
A lad of seven years at the time of his arrival in Colorado. William E. Hutton pursued his early education in the public schools of Leadville and continued bis studies in the Denver high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1891. Desirous of advancing his education, he next became a student at Harvard University and was graduated in 1895 with the Bachelor of Arts degree. Thus having acquired broad literary learning to serve as a foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional knowledge, he became a law student at Harvard and won his LL. B. degree in 1898. 1m- mediately after his graduation he returned to Denver and entered upon private practice, becoming attorney for leading insurance companies. He has since specialized in this branch of the law and he became general counsel for the Capitol Life Insurance Company on its organization, and is also a stockholder and director. He has thus been identified with the company for a number of years, maintaining a high place in professional circles among those who have specialized in insurance law. He belongs to the Denver Bar Asso- ciation, to the Colorado Bar Association and to the American Bar Association. He was made a special assistant United States district attorney in 1905 and he is also connected with the Denver Law School, having been a member of its faculty for the past twelve years.
On the 29th of June, 1899. Mr. Hutton was married in Denver to Miss Alida Platt Lansing, a native of Indiana and a daughter of Melancthon Woolsey Lansing. a representa- tive of one of the old families of New York. He wedded Mary Jane Abbott and they became pioneers of Greeley, Colorado, but both have now passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Hutton were born four children but two have been called from this life. The first three were
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triplets, John, Helen and Katherine, born on the 12th of April, 1900, but Katherine died the following day. The other two are still living. The fourth member of the family was Charles Hutton, born in Denver in 1912.
In his political views Mr. Hutton has always been a stalwart republican since reaching adult age and has been active in matters of citizenship which he deems of value to the community. He belongs to the Civic and Commercial Association and cooperates heartily and effectively in all well defined plans and measures of that organization for the public good. Both he and his wife are members of the First Unitarian Society of Denver and Mrs. Hutton is very active in the Mothers Congress, in Red Cross work and in various charitable enterprises. In fact, their labors are constituting an important element for general progress and improvement and especially along those lines which have to do with the betterment of conditions for the unfortunate.
RUDOLPH J. WALTER.
Rudolph J. Walter. metallurgist and mining engineer, prominently known in his professional capacity throughout Colorado and a highly respected citizen of Denver, was. born in St. Louis, Missouri, July 6, 1860. His father, Jacob Walter, was a native of Ger- many and came to the United States in 1855, at which time he took up his abode in St. Louis. In early life he learned the cabinet maker's trade and he left Germany in order to escape the enforced military service. He did not hesitate. however, to stand for a principle which he believed to be right and was one of the first to enlist in response to the country's call for aid in the Civil war, becoming a member of the First Missouri Cavalry. He married Barbara Bergthold, who came to the United States from Germany when ten years of age. Mr. Walter passed away in 1882 and his wife has also departed this life. They had a family of six sons, of whom two are yet living, the brother of Rudolph J. Walter being Louis H. Walter, who is now living retired in Denver.
At the usual age Rudolph J. Walter became a pupil in the public schools of St. Louis and afterward attended night school, while the days were devoted to work. He then completed a course in a business college and thus qualified for life's practical and re- sponsible duties. He started out to provide for his own support as an employe in a grocery store, working from five o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night. He was thus engaged until his removal to Denver. Having determined to try his fortune in the new and rapidly developing west, he left Missouri for Colorado and reached his destination in May, 1878. Here he immediately sought and obtained employment, work- ing at the smelters and in stores. He learned the assaying business at Golden and at Denver and then started in the business on his own account in Gunnison county in 1879. He was driven out of that district. however, by the Indians and spent the succeeding winter in Denver, but in the early spring began prospecting in Breckenridge and Gunni- son county and devoted his time to that work for many years. He was appointed com- missioner from Gunnison county to the great exposition which was held in Denver, 1882-3-4, an exposition largely devoted to mineral exhibits and mining machinery. He secured the gold medals for the best display of gold and silver ores. Through almost the entire period of his residence in Colorado he has been identified with mining interests in one phase or another and is now concentrating his efforts and attention upon mining engineering and has for a considerable period had charge of smelters and mines. Mr. Walter studied mining and metallurgical engineering at the School of Mines and the University of Berlin, Germany. after ten years of practical experience in Colorado and other western states.
In May, 1887. Mr. Walter was united in marriage to Miss Augustine Schinner, a daughter of Adolph Schinner. a Colorado pioneer of 1860. She was born April 8. 1866, and by her marriage has become the mother of seven children: Adolph S., who is as- sistant superintendent in connection with a smelter at Pueblo; Ernest R., who was born in Berlin. Germany, while his parents were visiting there and who is in business in Seattle, Washington; Frederic J .. who is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Augus- tine, who married Milton Carlson of Masters. Colorado; Emily. the wife of Harold Allen. of Denver: Rudolph J., who is a graduate of the Manual Training high school of the class of 1918; and Carl L., fourteen years of age, now in school.
Mr. Walter is a Mason, belonging to Schiller Lodge. No. 41. A. F. & A. M., and to Colorado Consistory, No. 1. A. & A. S. R. of F. He is also connected with El Jebel Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Along professional lines he is a member of the American Electro-Chemical Society. He is an advocate of physical training for young men to
RUDOLPH J. WALTER
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thoroughly fit them for life's responsible duties and was made chairman of the gym- nasium committee of the Manual Training high school of Denver, and in that capacity had a resolution passed requiring the school board to engage instructors for physical training of both boys and girls, and this measure is now in force. Mr. Walter was a pioneer in prospecting and smelting work in Colorado and the western country and has made valuable contribution to the development of the state along those lines. He is a man of high character and commendable purpose, respected and honored wherever known and most of all where he is best known.
HON. NATHANIEL PETER HILL.
Hon. Nathaniel Peter Hill, a Colorado statesman, whose eminent ability was expressed in his service as United States senator and as one of the three members of the inter- national monetary commission. under appointment of President Harrison, was born in Orange county, New York, February 18, 1832, and his life record covered the intervening years to the 22d of May, 1900, when he passed away in Denver. He was a representative of one of the prominent colonial families. His grandfather, Captain Peter Hill, who was born in 1751. commanded a company of minute men for the Hanover precinct of Ulster county, New York, in 1775. He was in command of his company, with two lieutenants and sixty-five men, on duty at Fort Constitution, February 13, 1776, and was at Fort Montgomery on the 6th of October, 1777. He passed away in 1795. The father of Senator Hill. Nathaniel Peter Hill, Sr., was extensively engaged in farming in New York and figured prominently in connection with the public life of the state as a member of the general assembly and as county judge for several years.
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