USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 50
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109
Hamilton Armstrong was educated in the public schools and in the high school of Jackson, Mississippi, and after putting aside his textbooks was apprenticed to the bookbinder's trade, which he continued to follow until 1892. Later he was identified with newspaper publication as an employe on the Denver News, Times and Republican and also was in the employ of the Merchants Publishing Company. He became a resident of Denver in 1880 and through the intervening period has made his home here and has been most actively and prominently identified with public interests of importance. In 1892 he was elected to represent his district in the state senate of Colorado and upon his retirement from that position was appointed chief of police of Denver in 1894, serving under Governor Waite until June, 1895, when he resigned and resumed work at the printing trade. He was employed on the Denver News in
EMIL C. STEINMANN
Vol. III-29
354
HISTORY OF COLORADO
the bookbinding department and there continued until 1897, when he returned to the police service, being appointed captain of detectives under Governor C. S. Thomas. He continued in that position through the Governor's term of office and was then appointed chief of police of Denver by Governor Orman, continuing through the execu- tive term. Under Governor Peabody's administration he again served as chief of police and was ex officio sheriff of the city of Denver as well as for the county. Under the Rush bill a charter convention was called, delegates were elected thereto, the charter was drafted and submitted for adoption. Then another election was called to choose members to a second charter convention and the charter of that organization was drafted, presented and adopted, providing for the election of officers for the city and county of Denver. Mr. Armstrong became a candidate on the ticket for the office of sheriff with the late Mayor Robert W. Speer in 1904 and was elected together with the other candidates on the ticket. This election, however, was contested on technical grounds and he was unseated. He was then appointed chief license inspector in the auditor's office and there remained until June, 1908. On the 28th of that month he was appointed chief of police, which position he is still acceptably filling, covering a period of ten years. Under his direction the police system of the city has been most carefully and thoroughly organized and the department is doing splendid work. Mr. Armstrong keeps the closest oversight over all conditions relating thereto and he holds to the highest possible standards in police service.
In September, 1892, Mr. Armstrong was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jennie Ruckman, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Ruckman, of Quincy, Illinois. They became the parents of two children: Hamilton, who was born in 1904; and a daughter, who died in infancy. The wife and mother passed away on the 14th of April, 1918, after a prolonged illness. She was a lady of many admirable qualities, of kindly spirit and of genial disposition, and her death was therefore the occasion of deep and wide- spread regret when she was called to the home beyond. She held membership in St. Barnabas Episcopal church.
In politics Mr. Armstrong has always been a democrat, giving unfaltering allegiance to the party, but he never allows polities to in any way interfere with the faithful performance of his duties. He is a most efficient public officer, highly respected by the most prominent and the most humble citizens of Denver, and he enjoys the unquali- fied confidence and esteem of the men who serve under him. Nothing can swerve him from a course which he believes to be right and no higher testimonial of his capability and trustworthiness could be given than the fact that he has been retained as head of the department for ten years.
WILLIAM CARROLL RUSSELL.
William Carroll Russell, a mining engineer of Denver, was born at Kernville, Kern county, California, August 27, 1873, and comes of English and Scotch ancestry. His father, Major Samuel Andrew Russell, was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1830, and his mother, Harriett Olinda Russell, was born in Pettis county, Missouri, in 1841. The paternal grandfather, General Henry Pierrepont Russell, whose forebears arrived from England in 1632, was one of the founders of the city of Buffalo, New York, and latterly commander-in-chief of the Nevada state military forces in the late '60s. The maternal grandfather, Colonel David Humes, of North Carolina, was an officer in the Confederate army. The Russell family migrated from the state of New York to California in 1849, arriving there early in 1850, and immediately engaged in mining and commercial enterprises and in the upbuilding of the new empire of the west. Later, during the Comstock silver excitement in Virginia City, Nevada, they went thither and became active in mining, having been closely identified with the early development of that bonanza district.
In 1877 the mother of William Carroll Russell died and in 1890 his father passed away, both in California. Of the immediate Russell family of eight children, only two others remain- a brother, Samuel H., of Albany, Oregon, and a sister, Mrs. Sara J. Shearer, of San Jose, California.
William C. Russell is a graduate of the University of California of the class of 1898. He prepared for the university in the academical department of California Col- lege at Oakland and was graduated therefrom in 1893 as president of his class. In 1891 he was appointed to the West Point Military Academy but did not enter, having decided to follow a mining rather than a military career. He was a member of the
355
HISTORY OF COLORADO
California state militia in 1890 and 1891 but resigned in order to finish his preparation for college.
On the 16th of July, 1913, Mr. Russell was married to Miss Leontine Cranmer, a daughter of W. H. H. and Martha J. Cranmer, pioneers of Denver, Mrs. Russell is a sister of Mrs. William P. McPhee, Mrs. Grover Coors, Miss Katherine Cranmer, Cap- tain W. H. H. Cranmer of the United States army and Lieutenant George E. Cranmer, U. S. A., all residents of Colorado. To Mr. and Mrs. Russell has been born a son, William Carroll Russell, Jr., whose birth occurred in Denver, June 9, 1915.
Immediately after his graduation from college in 1898, Mr. Russell went to the Klondike by way of the Yukon river, having joined the rush of gold seekers, and mined in the Klondike and at Nome, Alaska, until 1901. He operated placer and drift gravel mines in California from 1901 until 1904 and from the latter date until 1908 maintained an engineering office in Tonopah, Nevada, and engaged in quartz mining operations, largely on his own account. He left Nevada in 1908 to assume the manage- ment of the well known Rawley mine at Bonanza, Saguache county, Colorado, and continued in that capacity for four and one-half years, during which time he ran what is known as the Rawley Transportation and Drainage Tunnel, sixty-two hundred and thirty-five feet in length, completing the same in seventeen months and establishing a yet unbroken Colorado record for combined speed and economy in tunnel driving. Since 1913 he has had headquarters in Denver, at the present time being general man- ager of The Caribou Mines & Mills Company and consulting engineer for several oil shale companies operating in northwestern Colorado. He conducts a general mining engineering and tunnel construction office.
Mr. Russell is a member of the Presbyterian church and of the Masonic order and is a republican in principle. He is a director of the Colorado Mine Operators Associa- tion, a member of the Colorado Metal Mining Association, for a number of years a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and possesses a wide acquaint- ance in Colorado mining circles. He is also an occasional contributor to American mining journals and is interested in war work and all patriotic and general public enterprises.
DAVID L. CLARK, D. O.
Dr. David L. Clark, an osteopathic practitioner of Denver whose ability is attested in his rapidly growing success, was born in Hillsboro, Iowa, March 21, 1868. His father, L B. Clark, was a native of Ohio and belonged to one of the old pioneer fami- lies of that state, of Scotch-Irish origin, his ancestors having settled in New England at an early day. L. B. Clark was a stonemason and plasterer by trade but followed agricultural pursuits as his principal vocation. He was reared and educated in Ohio and removed to Iowa in 1851, casting in his lot among the early settlers of Lee county. There he resided until 1875, when he established his home in Wayne county, Iowa, where he remained until 1894. In that year he became a resident of Indianola, Iowa, in order that he might give his younger children the advantage of the educational opportunities there to he enjoyed. He continued a resident of Indianola until called to his final rest on the 1st of December, 1915, when he was eighty-three years of age, He was a very devont Christian who gave generously to the support of the church and did everything in his power to advance its cause. He largely paid for the building of two churches that were erected in Iowa. At the time of the Civil war he proved his loyalty to his country hy responding to the call for troops to aid in the defense of the Union and served for three years and four months with the Thirteenth Iowa Infantry as a private. While at the front he contracted a disease, from which he suf- fered throughout his remaining days. He was also captured and held as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, there remaining until exchanged after the close of hostilities. He belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic at Indianola and thus ever main- tained pleasant associations with his old army comrades. In early manhood he wedded Miss Louisa Mendenhall, who was born in Tennessee and was of French and English descent. Her parents were among the early residents of Tennessee, where they remained until 1839, when they removed to Iowa, settling in Lee county. It was there that Mr. and Mrs. Clark became acquainted and were married. The latter departed this life February 22, 1915, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty years. She had become the mother of nine children, five sons and four daughters, eight of whom are yet living, and Dr. Clark was the fourth in order of birth.
Spending his youthful days in his native county, Dr. Clark attended its public
356
HISTORY OF COLORADO
schools and also the public schools of Wayne county, Iowa, being graduated from high school with the class of 1886. His youthful experiences were those of the farm-bred boy and he early became acquainted with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. At length he began farming on his own account and was thus engaged until he reached the age of twenty-seven years, when he entered the American School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Missouri, and was graduated therefrom with the degree of Doctor of Osteopathy with the class of 1898. Following his graduation he removed to Sherman, Texas, and became the first osteopathic practitioner in that state. There he followed his profession until September, 1905, when he removed to Fort Collins, Colorado, where he continued until the spring of 1913. He then came to Denver and has since been in active and continuous practice, meeting with substantial success as the years have passed. In 1911 he took post graduate work at the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy in California and he has put forth every effort to gain compre- hensive knowledge of the profession and of the broad scientific principles which under- lie his chosen life work. He belongs to the American Osteopathic Association, by which he was honored with election as its second treasurer in 1907. He was one of the organizers of that body and he also holds membership in the Colorado Osteopathic Association. In May, 1915, he was appointed a member of the state board of medical examiners of Colorado and has since occupied that position. He stands as one of the most efficient, capable and eminent osteopathic practitioners in the state, holding to the highest professional standards, and he has among his patients many of Denver's most prominent people. He was led to take up the profession by the fact that he had been restored to health by osteopathic treatment. He was very ill when about twenty- seven years of age and his life was despaired of by medical practitioners. As a last resort he took up osteopathy with the result that a complete cure was effected. Becom- ing convinced that osteopathic practice was the natural way of effecting cures, it being in accordance with nature's laws, he began preparation for practice and although he has had many trying experiences because of the opposition of regular physicians at a period when this method of treatment was not recognized by medical science, he has nevertheless seen his profession advancing step by step, and he has been largely instrumental in securing necessary legislation in Texas and other states, bringing legal recognition of the profession. In this work he has largely spent an independent fortune, but he feels that the results achieved have justified his course. The science of osteopathy is based upon nature's laws-the adjustment of the human organism so that without stricture or obstruction of any kind nature will perform the healing as she always does when given an opportunity. The years of experience have strength- ened Dr. Clark's belief in the profession to which he owes his own life and in which he has been instrumental in so many cases in restoring health to others. That the profession has won well deserved recognition is indicated in the fact that he is now serving on the board of state medical examiners.
Dr. Clark is connected with Colorado Camp, No. 13, W. O. W., of Denver, also with Fort Collins Camp, No. 1030, M. W. A. He belongs to Trinity church of Denver and his political allegiance is given to the republican party, which finds in him a stalwart advocate. He is ever loyal to any canse which he espouses and his integrity of thought and of purpose is never questioned by those who know him.
ROBERT REID.
Robert Reid, deceased, was for a considerable period identified with farming interests in Weld and Larimer counties and the property which he owned and improved is in possession of his widow, Mrs. Maggie B. Reid. He was born in County Derry, Ireland, in January, 1861, and his death occurred in Windsor, Colorado, on the 7th of April, 1901, when he was but forty years of age. In his nineteenth year he Ieft Ire- land and came to the United States, landing at New York city, where he remained for two years. He then came to New Windsor, where he resided to the time of his demise. He was a successful and properous farmer, a man of sound judgment, of executive ability and of marked energy and resourcefulness. His industry was always wisely directed and he was constantly optimistic. He had many sterling traits of character and by all who knew him was recognized as a man whose word was as good as any bond ever solemnized by signature and seal.
In 1889 Mr. Reid was united in marriage to Miss Maggie B. Yancey and to them were born five children, tour sons and a daughter, namely: Lyle James who is with the United States army at Camp Fremont, California, being with the Eighth Ammunition
ROBERT REID
358
HISTORY OF COLORADO
Train, Company G: and Joseph William, Robert Alexander, Revilo Loveland and Bessie Virginia, all of whom are at home with their mother. The life record of Mr. Reid should _serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished through individual effort. He left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. While born in Ireland, he was of Scotch parentage and ancestry and had all the strong and stable characteristics of the people of the land of hills and heather. He was honest, industrious and frugal, a model farmer and a good citizen. On coming to the new world he worked for a time with his uncle in New York in the sewing machine business and later went to Philadelphia, whence he removed westward to Fort Collins, Colorado. About the year 1882 he made his way to Windsor and he purchased the present homestead farm in 1897. It is on the border of Weld and Larimer counties, the residence being in the latter county. Mr. Reid engaged not only in the cultivation of his fields, producing the crops best adapted to soil and climate, but also engaged in feeding stock and made that branch of his business a particularly profitable one. When death called him he was laid to rest in the New Windsor cemetery. His family lost a devoted and loving husband and father and his associates a faithful friend. He was always loyal to the best interests of the community in which he resided and his genuine worth was acknowledged by all with whom he came in contact. He never sought success through speculation but by untiring diligence and effort he steadily worked his way upward, and each forward step in his career brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. While he prospered, however, he also gained that good name which is rather to be chosen than great riches.
HON. RODELPHUS H. GILMORE.
Since March, 1882, Hon. Rodelphus H. Gilmore has been a member of the Denver bar and through this period has largely specialized in the practice of land law, in which branch of the profession, according to public opinion, he has few equals and no superiors. Holding to the highest standards and ethics of the profession, his entire career has been one which has reflected credit and honor upon that calling which has an important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any sec- tion or community and one which has long been considered as conserving the public welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights. It is not in the field of law alone. however, that Judge Gilmore has exerted a widely felt and beneficial influence over the interests of Denver. He has stood for progress and improvement along material, social, political, intellectual and moral lines and his efforts in each field have been productive of far-reaching results ..
Judge Gilmore comes to the west from the state of Maine, his birth having occurred in Leeds on the 19th of February, 1842, his parents being Colonel John and Eliza (Otis) Gilmore. He is descended through paternal and maternal lines from prominent old colonial families of New England, figuring actively in connection with the military and civic history of the east. He traces his ancestry back to James Gilmore, who was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and because of religious persecution left the old world for the new, sailing from Londonderry, Ireland, and arriving in Massachusetts in 1715, thus founding the branch of the family to which Judge Gilmore belongs. The latter's father, Colonel John Gilmore, commanded a regiment of Massachusetts infantry in the War of 1812. He was born in 1790 and was but twenty-three years of age when the regiment of which he was in command was given the credit for repelling the British from the southern coast of Massachusetts. After a residence for a number of years at Easton, Massachusetts, he migrated to Maine, where be married a daughter of Oliver Otis, a sister of Hon. John Otis and a representative of one of the old and notable New England families. In the Lothrop line, with which Judge Gilmore is connected. appears the name of a gallant soldier of the American Revolution, Major Daniel Lothrop, who was his great-grandfather, and who commanded the artillery overlooking Dorchester Heights at the time Washington assumed command of the American forces, while a son, Lieutenant Daniel Lothrop, was with Washington's army at Valley Forge. General O. O. Howard, one of the prominent military com- manders of the Civil war, was a half-brother of Judge Gilmore, and thus the family history presents many names that have figured with distinction in connection with the military records of the country. His father, Colonel John Gilmore, born at Easton. Massachusetts, and of whose military record mention has been made, was educated for the profession of civil engineering and surveying, and in addition to work along those lines he devoted considerable attention to agricultural pursuits. He was one
359
HISTORY OF COLORADO
of the builders of the Androscoggin Railway in Maine and he passed away in 1863. His wife was a native of Leeds, Maine, born in 1804, and her last days were spent in Glencoe, Illinois, where she died in 1888.
Judge Gilmore was the only child of her second marriage, but by her first mar- riage she had three sons. In the acquirement of his education Judge Gilmore pursued his preparatory course in the Phillips-Andover Academy at Andover, Massachusetts, and later matriculated in Bowdoin College of Maine, from which he was graduated in 1863, winning the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from that institu- tion. He determined upon the practice of law as a life work and entered the law school of the University of Albany, from which he was graduated in 1865 with the LL. B. degree. He was admitted to the bar at Albany, New York, and afterward removed to the west, entering upon the practice of his profession in Richmond, Indiana, in 1865. Four months later, however, he removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. No dreary novitiate awaited him in his professional career. He won almost immediate recogni- tion of his ability there and made rapid progress, continuing a prominent member of the Cedar Rapids bar for fifteen years, or until he severed his connection with that citv in 1880. During a period of eight years he filled the office of judge of the bank- ruptcy court in the third, fourth and fifth congressional districts, at which period the proceedings were conducted under the old practice. He became an active factor in political circles in lowa as a stalwart supporter of the republican party and in 1872 was a presidential elector in support of U. S. Grant for a second term. He made a canvas of the state in connection with James Wilson, afterward secretary of agriculture.
Judge Gilmore left Iowa on account of his wife's health and removed to Golden, Colorado, where he remained in the active practice of law for a year and three months. In March, 1882, he located in Denver, where he has since continued. He entered into partnership with the Hon. Frank Tilford, who was a democratic leader of the state and who afterward became a member of the state senate. Although of different political faith, a warm friendship sprang up between them and their professional connections were continued until the death of Senator Tilford in 1885. Since that time Judge Gilmore has practiced alone, making a specialty of land law, and in that branch of the profession has enjoyed a most extensive and important practice, his ability placing him in the foremost rank of the profession in the entire west. He belongs to both the Denver Bar Association and the Colorado State Bar Association and enjoys in the fullest measure the honor and respect of professional colleagues and contemporaries. As his financial resources increased he made extensive invest- ment in property at Glen Park, adjoining Palmer Lake, and became one of the founders of what is now a favorite summer resort, known as The Glen. He was active in the organization of a chantauqua assembly there and since 1887 many of the most eminent lecturers and best platform speakers of the country have been heard there, largely through the efforts and influence of Judge Gilmore.
In 1867 Judge Gilmore was united in marriage in Leeds, Maine, to Miss Rosa Deane, who passed away in 1876. They were the parents of a daughter, Eliza Otis Gilmore, who became the wife of William L. Knisell, of Denver. In 1885 Judge Gil- more wedded Miss Belle Wightman, of Denver, and they became the parents of three children: Hugh, who was graduated from Colorado College in 1910 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and is now engaged in the practice of law; Faith W., who is a graduate of the Colorado Teachers' College, after having been a student at the Uni- versity of Denver, and is now a teacher of art in Tucson, Arizona; and Roy Wight- man, twenty-seven years of age, who has charge of the Shanghai branch of the export- ing house of Getz Brothers of San Francisco and China.
The religious faith of Judge Gilmore is indicated by his membership in the Plymouth Congregational church, of which he has served as deacon for a quarter of a century, and he was president of the Colorado Congregational Association for more than thirty years. He has always been a great reader and few are more thoroughly informed concerning events which have shaped the world's progress. He belongs to several fraternal organizations, including Colorado Camp, No. 13, W. O. W., of which he became a charter member and has served as an officer. He is also a charter mem- ber of the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America and is entitled to membership with the Sons of the American Revolution. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, and in 1885 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature and was identified with much constructive work carried out during that session and served as chairman of the judiciary committee. While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambi- tion which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.