History of Colorado; Volume III, Part 56

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918-19
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 844

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The boyhood days of Thomas I. Gregory were spent in the usual manner of the farm- bred boy. He pursued his education in the public schools of his native county and after- ward attended high school, while subsequently he continued his education in Christian

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THOMAS I. GREGORY

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University at Canton, Missouri. Through the period of vacation he worked in the fields and early became familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. For four years in early manhood he engaged in farming on his own account and afterward turned his attention to merchandising in Canton, Missouri, where he remained for seven years. He afterward represented the Chicago house of Marshall Field & Com- pany as a traveling salesman upon the road and later traveled for the Syracuse Clothing Company. Subsequently he occupied a position as traveling salesman with a hat and glove house of Quincy, Illinois, and he also traveled for the wholesale millinery house of Rosenheim, Levis & Company and later for the Keokuk Candy Company of Keokuk, Iowa. He was next with the American Express Company at Hannibal, Missouri, and afterward became a messenger for the American Express Company, his run being between St. Louis and Kansas City. On retiring from that position he turned his attention to the insurance business, becoming associated with the Prudential Insurance Company. He was after- ward with the New York Life Insurance Company and next with the Covenant Mutual Life Insurance Company of St. Louis. He then came to Denver and incorporated the Western Life & Accident Company in 1900. Under that style he conducted business for sixteen years and then in 1916 merged his business into a stock company known as the Western Life & Casualty Company, which has a paid up capital of one hundred thousand dollars and a surplus of forty-nine thousand dollars. He has prospered in his business undertakings throughout the entire period of his residence in Denver and today he is the president of a most important corporation, the Western Life & Casualty Company, with offices in the Gas & Electric building in Denver. Under his guidance the business is steadily growing and he has made a close study of every phase of insurance and main- tains the highest standards in the conduct of the business.

In 1880 Mr. Gregory was united in marriage to Miss Katharine Josephine Funken- busch, of Lewis county, Missouri, and to them were born two children, Lutie and Aaron, the latter now deceased. Mr. Gregory belongs to the Woodmen of the World. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party and he has membership in the One Hun- dred Per Cent American Club, a patriotic organization, formed to look after the interests of the country. He holds to the highest ideals in American citizenship and gives his aid and cooperation to many movements which are looking to the betterment of national conditions and to the upholding of civic standards.

JULIAN H. ROEDIGER.

Honored and respected by all, no man in Morgan county occupies a more enviable position in business and financial circles than Julian H. Roediger, the president of the Morgan County National Bank. This is due not only to the success he has achieved but also to the straightforward business methods which he has ever followed and the enterprise which he has displayed in the conduct of his affairs. The world instinctively pays deference to the man who wins success and wins it worthily.

Mr. Roediger is a native of Belleville, Illinois. He was horn June 30, 1876. of the marriage of Herman and Julia (Schnirl) Roediger, who were natives of Germany and who came to America with relatives in 1838 and 1840 respectively, their parents having died in the old country. The father made his way to Illinois, taking up his abode in Belleville, where he became a jeweler. Ninety per cent of the population of that town is composed of exiled French and Germans, who were the builders of Belle- ville. Herman Roediger there learned the jeweler's trade and later he and his brother formed a partnership and engaged in business as wholesale jewelers and silversmiths, manufacturing a fine grade of silverware. They conducted their interests under the firm style of Roediger Brothers & Company, having established the business in 1840. It is still being carried on by cousins of the founders. Herman Roediger continued active in the conduct of the business throughout his entire life and passed away in September, 1887, a valued and respected resident of the community in which he had so long made his home. His widow survived him for three decades, her deatlı occurring in October, 1917.

Julian H. Roediger was reared and educated in Belleville. Illinois, and also attended Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri. He started upon his business career as secretary to the cashier of the National Bank of Commerce and later was advanced to the position of teller, remaining with that institution for two years. In 1900 he came to Fort Morgan, Morgan county, Colorado, and entered into active business association with M. L. More, who was proprietor of a private bank. This institution was nationalized in 1905 and is the oldest bank in Morgan county. Mr.

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Roediger was cashier of the private bank and after it became nationalized continued to serve in that capacity until the death of Mr. More, its founder and promoter, when he was elected to the presidency, being called to the office in 1912. The bank is capitalized for one hundred thousand dollars and has a surplus and undivided profits of seventy thousand dollars, while its deposits have reached eight hundred thousand dollars and its total resources amount to one million and fifty thousand dollars. L. C. Jacox, formerly a stenographer in the bank, is now its efficient cashier. In 1907 a fine modern bank and office building was erected and houses the institution, which is regarded as one of the safe moneyed concerns ot' the state. Mr. Roediger is familiar with every phase of banking and the success of this institution is attributable in large measure to his close application, his keen sagacity and his business enterprise. He has also become identified with other important concerns which have constituted elements in the growth and upbuilding of the state in which he lives. He built, and until 1917 operated, the Platte Valley Milling & Elevator Company and he erected an ice plant which was afterward destroyed by fire. He has extensive farming interests, operating two thousand acres of land in Morgan county, and he is quite extensively engaged in feeding sheep and cattle. He formerly fed as high as twenty-five thousand head of sheep and ranged seventy-five thousand head and he feeds from four to six hundred head of cattle. He is a man of rare business sagacity who readily determines between the essential and the nonessential in business affairs and carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes.

On the 22d of December, 1903, Mr. Roediger was married to Miss Susie More, a daughter of M. L. and Salida (Sands) More, who were natives of Moreville, New York. Her father came to Colorado in 1885, settling in Morgan county, where he continued to reside until his death. In 1888 he organized a private bank and was then identified with financial interests of the county until his life's labors were ended on the 7th of December, 1912. He had long survived his wife, who died in 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Roediger have become parents of one child, Virginia, born in March, 1906.

Mr. Roediger has ever been deeply interested in community affairs and in the welfare and progress of city, commonwealth and country. His political allegiance has ever been given to the republican party and he has served as city treasurer and also as school treasurer. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a very prominent Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and the Knights Templar degree of the York Rite, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. His religious faith is evidenced in his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. He is now serving as district director of the United States treasury department of war activities, comprising northeastern Colorado to the Nebraska and Wyoming state lines. He was one of the organizers of the Red Cross in this section and is acting as its secretary and treasurer. He headed the Red Cross drive and Morgan county was the first in the United States to go over the top. He is now chairman of the state board of defense and his work has placed Morgan county in a most enviable position in regard to war activities. In a word, he is doing everything in his power to further national interests in this hour of crisis and his labors are proving far-reaching, resultant and beneficial.

JOHN KNOWLES.

John Knowles of Denver, now deceased, was for forty-eight years a member of the bar, actively practicing in the courts for ten years, after which he was legal representative of various important business and corporate interests. He was born in Bridgeville, Van Buren county, Michigan, May 13, 1846. His father, Elijah Knowles, was born in Massachusetts and devoted his life to farming and lumber manufacturing. He became a pioneer of Michigan, removing to the west in 1837, and for many years he figured prominently as a leading man in his community. He died April 5, 1855, and was long survived by his widow, who bore the maiden name of Eliza Deming and was born at Avon, New York. She passed away in February, 1891, at the age of seventy-two years. In their family were seven children, but only one is now living, Charles Knowles, who served throughout the Civil war, from 1861 until 1865, and who is now living retired at Bloomingdale, Michigan.

John Knowles, whose name introduces this review, acquired a district school education in Michigan, pursuing his studies until he attained his majority, save that before reaching man's estate he went to the front as a soldier of the Union army in the Civil war. He enlisted in Company K, of the First Michigan Cavalry, when but

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seventeen years of age. The command was assigned to duty with George A. Custer's Brigade and Mr. Knowles served with Sheridan's Cavalry Corps from the battle of the Wilderness to the final surrender of the Confederate troops, which established the supremacy of the Union. After the war Mr. Knowles took up the study of law in Paw Paw, Michigan, under an attorney of that place and was admitted to the bar in his native state in August, 1869. He then practiced in Michigan until 1880 and on the 1st of February of that year arrived in Denver, and made his home in Colorado from that time until his death. He at once opened a law office and continued in active practice before the courts for ten years, after which time he did legal work for corporation interests and was attorney for the United Petroleum Company and the Kanok Metals Company, of which he was also the president.

In 1883 Mr. Knowles was united in marriage to Miss Harriet A. Burley, a native of Ohio, who lived for some time in Iowa. They had a son, Paul, who is an attorney with offices in the Ernest & Cranmer building of Denver.

Mr. Knowles was a Mason, having joined the lodge at Paw Paw, Michigan, in November, 1868, and was afterward identified with the chapter and commandery at Durango, Colorado, having become a charter member of those organizations. He also belonged to Byron L. Carr Post, G. A. R., of Colorado, and thus maintained pleasant relations with his old army comrades. He formerly gave stalwart support to the republican party but afterward became a strong advocate of prohibition and did most effective work in behalf of the cause of temperance. He was a man of high character, of strong purpose and of most commendable principles, honored and respected by all because of the upright life which he lived.

HON. EVERT H. HOUTCHENS.

Hon. Evert H. Houtchens, lawyer and legislator, living in Greeley, is making a most creditable record as a practitioner at the Colorado bar and as a member of its house of representatives, where he gives thoughtful and earnest consideration to all the vital questions which come up for settlement. His life record dates from October 27, 1878. He was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, a son of Samuel R. and Susie (Cheatham) Houtchens, who were also natives of the Blue Grass state, where the father followed the occupation of farming for many years. Later he went to Illinois, where he carried on similar pursuits and then went to Texas, where he purchased land, continuing its further development and cultivation throughout his remaining days, or for a period of twenty- five years. He died December 3, 1913, and is still survived by his wife, who now makes her home in Harrold, Texas.

Evert H. Houtchens was reared largely in Texas and pursued his education in the public schools, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from high school. His own labors provided for the expenses of his course while he was in high school. On the 17th of May, 1904, he arrived in Greeley, Colorado, where he took up the profession of teaching, which he successfully followed for three years, imparting readily and clearly to others the knowledge which he had acquired. On the expiration of that period he entered the State University at Boulder in preparation for the practice of law, and on the com- pletion of his law course he was graduated with the LL. B. degree as a member of the class of 1910. He was admitted to the bar in the same year and continued to teach school as principal near Pueblo for a year. In 1911 he went to Johnstown, where he began the practice of law, and for three years he there remained. On the 1st of July, 1914, he arrived in Greeley, where he opened an office and has since engaged in practice; his ability in this profession bringing him steadily to the front. He is very careful and thorough in the preparation of his cases, is painstaking and earnest in the presentation of his cause and in the application of a legal principle to the points at issue is seldom if ever at fault. He thinks deeply and reasons logically and his success is due to the very thorough, systematic and able manner in which he handles his cause in the courts.

In August, 1906, Mr. Houtchens was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Barnard and to them have been born four children: M. Kathryn, who was born August 26, 1909; Orson Barnard, born August 5, 1911; Evert Letcher, born October 28, 1914; and Robert Stanley, born on the 11th of August, 1917.

In his political views Mr. Houtchens has always been a stanch supporter of democratic principles since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He served as town attorney at Johnstown, at Mead and at Milliken, Colorado, for three years, and in the fall of 1916 was elected to represent his district in the house of representatives and is still one of its members. He is proving an active working member of the house, giving

HON. EVERT H. HOUTCHENS

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thoughtful and earnest consideration to the vital questions which come up for settlement, and his labors in behalf of public progress and improvement have been attended with good results. Fraternally he is connected with the Weld County Bar Association and the Colorado State Bar Association. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church and he is a teacher of the Baraca class of the Sunday school, is also a member of the board of trustees of the church and is serving as clerk of the board. In a word, he takes an active and helpful part in all church work, doing everything in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence, and his life is actuated by high and honorable principles. He is a man worthy of high regard and all who know him entertain for him unqualified respect and confidence.

MICHAEL BESHOAR, M. D.

Some names are indelibly written upon the pages of history and time serves but to heighten the fame of the individual. Such is the record of Dr. Michael Beshoar, of Trini- dad, now deceased, who was one of the distinguished physicians and surgeons of Colorado, an able newspaper man and legislator. His life work was well done and he left behind him a record of which his family may well be proud, while his memory re- mains as an inspiration and a benediction to all who knew him.

The Doctor was born in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1833, and pursued his education in the Tuscarora Academy at Lewistown, Pennsylvania. He afterward entered the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the class of 1853, on the completion of a course in medicine, and later he pursued post-graduate work in the University of Pennsylvania. He worked his way through the University of Michi- gan and the stories of his existence and the means which he employed to make both ends meet, as humorously related by him in later years, created laughter in all who listened to his reminiscences. Four years prior to his demise Dr. Beshoar went back to Ann Arbor to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation, and twenty-five and thirty- five year anniversary men stood aside in honor of this veteran. From the spring of 1853 until after the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861 he engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in Pocahontas, Arkansas, and became a prominent and influential resident of that state, leaving the impress of his individuality for good upon its history. He was twice elected to represent his district in the Arkansas legislature during that period. He ever stood loyally for what he believed to be right and his position upon any vital question was never an equivocal one. He had the rare distinction of being a Confederate veteran and also a member of the Union army. With the outbreak of the war between the north and the south he enlisted in the Arkansas infantry in support of the Confederate cause and was made chief surgeon. Later he became a full surgeon of the provisional armies of the Confederate states under General Hardee and afterward was transferred to the Department of the Mississippi. In 1863 he was captured by the Union troops and after being held as a prisoner of war for a time in St. Louis was released on parole in order that he might utilize his professional knowledge to assist the sick and wounded of the Union army. He thus did active professional work for both sides, his broad humanitarianism prompting him to do the utmost in his power to relieve the sick and suffering of both armies.

When the war was over Dr. Beshoar entered upon the active practice of his pro- fession in St. Louis and later, or in 1866, was appointed to the position of chief surgeon at Fort Kearney, Nebraska. After a brief period, however, he resigned and removed to the west, first establishing his home in Pueblo, Colorado, where he opened the first drug store between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Denver. In 1867 he established his residence at Trinidad, Colorado. In 1868 he founded the Pueblo Chieftain, which has remained throughout all the intervening years, covering a half century, one of the leading newspapers of the state. It would be impossible to keep a man of Dr. Beshoar's ability and resourcefulness in the background, and constant were the demands for his service in various public connections. He was a member of the territorial legislature and also of the general assembly after the admission of Colorado into the Union. He also figured again in newspaper circles in 1882 as the founder of the Trinidad Adver- tiser. His editorials were clear, trenchant, concise and forceful and had much to do. with shaping public thought and opinion among his readers. He was a man of keen insight and of broad vision and he handled public questions from the standpoint of a man who sees clearly and thinks deeply.

In 1872 Dr. Beshoar was united in marriage to Miss Anna E. Maupin and their children are: Mrs. Roy Gulley; Mrs. Burnie B. Joerger, who is a representative of the

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medical profession ; Dr. B. B. Beshoar, mentioned elsewhere in this work; Dr. John Beshoar, a successful practicing dentist; and Bertram, assistant to the attorney general at Denver.

Dr. Michael Beshoar was the founder of the Old Settlers' Association of Las Animas county and remained its honored president until his demise. He was a Mason of fifty- four years' standing, having membership in the lodge, the chapter and the council. He also belonged to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

Throughout his active life he remained a prominent representative of the medical profession and served at different periods as city and county physician, was at one time surgeon of the Arkansas state militia and afterward a member of the Colorado state board of health. He belonged to the Pan-American Medical Congress, was a mem- ber of the American Public Health Association, of the Association of Assistant Army Surgeons, U. S. A., was a member of the American Association of Examining Surgeons, belonged to the Colorado State Medical Society, of which he served as vice presi- dent, was at one time president of the Las Animas County Medical Society, was a life member of the American Medical Association and was a delegate from the American Public Health Association to the American Congress on Tuberculosis. He was also a member of the Association of Medical Officers of the Army and Navy of the Confederacy. In addition to his private practice he was examining surgeon for numerous leading life insurance companies.

The Chronicle-News of Trinidad, of September 6, 1907, wrote: "Dr. Beshoar is dead. Last night while the city lay in deep midnight silence, death claimed him for his own and the great-hearted physician who had fought off the grim reaper thousands of times for others, whose whole life had been devoted to keeping the shadow at bay, answered the call. The end was as he would have wished-suddenly, yet peacefully-and through- out the length and the breadth of these United States, wherever he has been during his long and eventful life, there will be men and women who will shed a tear for his memory. In halls of learning, in the dwellings of the rich and the humble homes of the poor he was beloved and justly so. And here in southern Colorado, where he has spent a half century, doing good among the people, in the cities and over the broad mesas where the long grass waves, and deep in remote canons where the feet of white men seldom tread, his multitude of dark skinned friends will hear of his passing; in the pueblos and among the scattered huts of the sheep herders the answering of the call will be told and their heads will be bowed in sorrow, for he was ever and always their true, stanch friend in their greatest hours of need."

CLARENCE M. HAWKINS.

Clarence M. Hawkins was born May 22, 1880, at Huntingdon, Tennessee, a son of Albert G. and Ellen (Prince) Hawkins, both native Tennesseeans. Both the Hawkins and Prince families are of English-Scotch ancestry and were in America prior to the Declaration of Independence and formation of the United States.

Albert G. Hawkins was a lawyer and jurist, a Confederate soldier and officer, and for more than twenty years chancellor of the ninth and eighth chancery divisions of Tennessee, and died in May, 1906, with four years of his elective term still unserved. The mother, Ellen (Prince) Hawkins, died January 4, 1899, leaving her surviving hus- band and three sons, Prince A. Hawkins, now of Reno, Nevada; Leslie O. Hawkins, a resident of Winnemucca, Nevada, now (1918) an officer in the Machine Gun Division of the United States army, and Clarence M. Hawkins,-all these sons being, like the greater number of their immediate family, lawyers.

Clarence M. Hawkins received the usual public school education and also graduated from the Vanderbilt Training School, of Elkton, Kentucky, in 1900, and from Vanderbilt University in 1902, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He practiced law at Hunting- don. Tennessee, from September, 1902, to September, 1904. He was associated with Hon. George W. Baily in law practice at Fort Collins, Colorado, from October, 1904, to March, 1905, when Mr. Baily became an associate justice of the supreme court of Colorado. Mr. Hawkins returned to Nashville, Tennessee, in April, 1905, and served from then until January, 1907, as secretary to the governor of Tennessee.

In October, 1905, Mr. Hawkins at Paris, Tennessee, married Nelle Ross Barton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. O. C. Barton, of that city,-another English-Scotch-Irish family antedating, in America, the Revolution. To this marriage, on August 27, 1906, a

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daughter, Dorothea Cavitt Hawkins, was born and now lives with her father in Denver, Colorado. The mother died in Nashville, Tennessee, January 11, 1915.

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History of Colorado; Volume III, Part 56

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918-19 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 844

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918-19
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 844