History of Colorado; Volume III, Part 66

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

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After his recovery Dr. Hubbell went to New York, where he earned enough money to enable him to go to Richmond and marry his sweetheart, Miss Agatha Clarissa Allen, who claimed descent from Colonel Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga. She was a daughter of Russell White Allen, a son of General Rhodes Green Allen, while her mother belonged to the Gardiner family. Dr. and Mrs. Hubbell traveled life's journey happily together for a half century, sharing with each other its joys and sorrows, its adversity and prosperity. They were married March 4, 1868, at her father's home in Richmond, by the Rev. Thomas G. Dashiel, rector of St. Mark's church, and their wedding journey consisted of a trip from Richmond to Norfolk, Virginia, by way of Petersburg, where they resided until September, 1873, when they came to Colorado.

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At that date if one was out on the bluffs he could look across the valley and see thousands of buffaloes grazing on the gama grass and the buffalo grass, which covered the plains to a height of about two feet. The buffaloes were so numerous that in looking from that distance it seemed as though one might walk over their backs, so close were they. In the winter of 1876 about five hundred antelopes walked over the dugout which Dr. Hubbell had made and which constituted his milk house. With poles, dirt and cowhide, after excavating a hole in the bluff, he had completed his dugout and found that when the doors were closed the temperature was fifty-three degrees, just right for milk and butter. At the time the bunch of five hundred antelopes, the snow being thinner on the edge of the cliffs, walked over the roof of the dugout. Two men of the vicinity killed a few with clubs but they were so thin and poor that the meat was too tough to eat. In 1874 Dr. Hubbell saw pelicans wading in the South Platte river a couple of miles below the entrance of the Big Thompson creek into the Platte. In that year he hung just under the eaves of his house in Corona thirty quarters of buffalo, where they hung until they were taken down to brine two months afterward and in that time they had never had a fly on them, for there were no flies in Colorado at that period. From the time of his arrival in the state Dr. Hubbell took a deep interest in the welfare and progress of the community in which he lived 'and in 1874 was secre- tary for the Hurr Ditch Company. He was also secretary of Fort Lupton at one time, twice served as its treasurer, was trustee for four terms and on one occasion the mayor. That he was much interested in the moral as well as the temporal welfare of the community is indicated in the fact that he held membership and became an active worker in the Episcopal church. He was confirmed in the faith by Bishop Whipple in Corona and has since been a loyal communicant of that denomination.

During the pioneer epoch in Colorado Dr. Hubbell and his family were victims of an Indian scare. He had two children, Clara and Thomas, born in Norfolk, Virginia, and three, Alla, Agatha and Galt, horn in Colorado. After coming to Colorado they remained at Green City until Rain-in-the-Face, an old Indian chief, made a raid within a few miles of the place, when Mrs. Hubbell took the children and rode to Evans, where she remained for about a week, while the men remained at home to fight the Indians, who, however, did not come at the time. Again, in 1875, Red Cloud made a raid up the Platte and his daughter, who had married Jim Kempton, gave the warning, riding into the town on a horse all covered with lather. She called out: "Red Cloud is coming with a band of Indians to kill and destroy all he meets." Mrs. Hubbell said she would never leave her husband again, so he had to go with her to the home of Thomas C. Winbourne, where they remained for two weeks. He afterward sold his home in Green City, now Corona, and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land just above the entrance of the Big Thompson into the Platte. Disposing of all of his cattle there, he resumed the practice of medicine. He was living upon that ranch when Colorado was admitted to the Union on the 1st day of August, 1876. He disposed of his ranch property and removed to Fort Lupton on the 29th of Septem- ber, 1879, and though by this time all of his funds were exhausted he resolutely faced conditions and slowly recuperated his finances. He continued at Fort Lupton until March 27, 1917, when he sold his practice and interests there and removed to Denver with his wife. On the 27th of January, 1917, Mrs. Hubbell passed away in her seventy-seventh year and hers was one of the largest funeral services ever seen in this part of the country, a tribute to her beautiful life and noble and virtuous character. Dr. Hubbell has continued to make his home in Denver and is numbered among the pioneer settlers of the state, having for forty-five years resided within its borders. He has witnessed much of its growth and progress and as the years have passed has had much to do with its agricultural and professional advancement.

FRED C. KENAGA.

Fred C. Kenaga, engaged in embalming and undertaking at Limon, was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, April 4, 1876, a son of M. H. and Alice Kenaga, the former a grain merchant. The son pursued his early education in Kankakee, Illinois, and after the removal of the family to Kansas in 1885 there pursued his studies for a time. He later entered the Bellevue Hospital of New York and pursued a course in nursing, completing his studies by graduation from the Nurses' Training School in connection with that hospital. He then returned to Kankakee, Illinois, where he had charge of the hospital ward in the state asylum for a year. Later he entered the employ of David

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Lavery an embalmer, with whom he continued for five years, when in 1909 he left the Mississippi valley and came to Colorado, locating at Limon. Here he was first employed by the Russell-Gates Mercantile Company as embalmer and he also did clerical work for five years. During this period in Colorado he was living on a homestead southwest of Limon. He proved up on the property and made it a profitable investment. In 1914 he was elected to the position of county coroner and was again reelected to that office in 1918. In March, 1916, he purchased the undertaking department of the Russell-Gates Company and has since conducted it. He is splendidly qualified for work in this connection, being familiar with the most progressive and scientific ideas having to do with the care of the dead. About May, 1916, he joined Clark Blair in organizing the Kenaga and Blair Hardware Company and has since developed a very profitable business through that partnership relation. In October, 1918, they added a grocery department to their business. Mr. Kenaga is alert and energetic, watchtul of every indication pointing to success, and his close application and energy have been dominant factors in the attainment of his present prosperity. He is the only embalmer in the county and he does all of this work in connection with his hardware and grocery trade.

In June, 1900, Mr.' Kenaga was united in marriage to Miss Lelah McMartin, of Trinidad, a daughter of Peter and Jennie MeMartin. Prior to her marriage she was a nurse. She has become the mother of four children: Alice born in 1903; Ruth, in 1904; Daniel, in 1911; and Grace, in 1914. The children have been educated in the schools of Limon.

Fraternally Mr. Kenaga is well known. In August, 1904, he became a member of the Masonic fraternity and has served as secretary of his lodge. In October, 1903, he was initiated into the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was the first noble grand when the lodge was organized in Limon. In 1904 he became a member of the Rebekah lodge and in 1915 he joined the Knights of Pythias. He has been the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Limon since its organization. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and in 1915-16 he was a member of the town board, while since the 20th of April, 1918, he has been town clerk. His wife was made a member of the Rebekah lodge in 1904, upon its organization, and was the first presiding officer thereof. She is now president of the Red Cross Unit of Limon, to which position she was chosen in 1917. Mr. Kenaga is a most active champion of public interests, doing everything in his power to promote the progress and welfare of his town and his state. He has been greatly interested in the Pike's Peak work on the "from ocean to ocean highway." The cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion and for two years he was a member of the school board of Limon. He is actuated in all that he does by a spirit of enterprise and progress and his labors have been productive of far-reaching and valuable results.

GEORGE W. STIFFLER, M. D.

Dr. George W. Stiffler, a practicing physician of Denver, was born in Cooper county, Missouri, March 23, 1858, a son of Sylvester and Loretta (Campbell) Stiffler, the former a native of Ohio, while the latter was born in Missouri. The father removed to Missouri when twenty-five years of age and later engaged in farming in that state, although he was a plasterer by trade. The year 1843 witnessed his arrival in Missouri and be continued his residence there up to the time of his death, as did his wife. They had a family of four children, of whom two have passed away, the surviving daughter being Mrs. Sophronia Mills, of Missouri.

Dr. Stiffler was the third in order of birth in the family. He attended the public schools of Cooper county and also the Parish Institute of that county, after which he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for four years in his native county. Deciding, however, to devote his attention to the practice of medicine, he then became a student in the medical department of the University of Missouri and was graduated from the Washington University of St. Louis, Missouri, as a medical student of the class of 1887. He began practice within a mile and a half of his birthplace and continued there in successful professional work for seventeen and a half years. Then he sought a still broader field of labor by removing to Denver in 1904, since which time he has practiced in this city. He has been very active in his professional work here, covering a period of fourteen years. A liberal practice has been accorded him and he has faithfully, conscientiously and ably met the duties and responsibilities

George H Stiffler, M.D.

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that have devolved upon him in this connection. While living in Boonville, Missouri, he was United States pension examiner.

On the 8th of June, 1887, Dr. Stiffler was united in marriage to Miss Alice M. Smith, of Prairie Home, Missouri, whose people were prominent in Cooper county. To Dr. and Mrs. Stiffler has been born a son, Robert Ewing, whose birth occurred in Cooper county, Missouri, July 6, 1888. He is a graduate of the Manual Training high school of Denver and the State Teachers College of Colorado. He is a young man of high efficiency in educational work and is now professor of manual training and industrial arts in the Logan County Industrial Arts high school. In 1917 he was president of the industrial arts section of the State Teachers Institute of Colorado, an honor conferred upon him by the educators of the state in convention in that year. He is a son of whom the parents have every reason to be proud.

Dr. Stiffler is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the Knights Templar degree. He is also connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He has been medical examiner of the last two and has filled all of the chairs in the Modern Woodmen camp. Dr. Stiffler is well known as an enterprising citizen, a successful practitioner and a man of excellent qualities which have won for him the goodwill, confidence and respect of all who know him.

WILL A. BORLAND.

Will A. Borland, one of the progressive newspaper men of Colorado, owner and editor of the Flagler News, was born in Sterling, Nebraska, May 13, 1878, a son of William W. and Anna (Sexton) Borland. The father, a native of Ohio, engaged in blacksmithing for forty years. Soon after the Civil war he drove with a wagon train across the country to Nebraska in company with ten families and took a prominent part in the upbuilding of the eastern section of that state. He was one of the pioneers there and his labors were an element in the substantial development of the section in which he lived. He had a family of seventeen children, of whom Will A. was the eleventh in order of birth. The father died in 1896, but the mother is still living at the old home in Sterling, Nebraska.

· Will A. Borland acquired his early education in the schools of his native city but his opportunities in that direction were somewhat limited, as he started out to earn his own living when still quite young. Through broad experience and wide reading, however, he has constantly promoted his knowledge and there are few men who keep so closely in touch with the trend of modern thought and progress. His initial step in the business world was made as printer's devil on the Sterling Sun and early experience taught him the value of unwearied industry and perseverance. For more than seven years he worked for Hon. L. A. Varner, the owner of the Sun, and during that time he filled many positions, steadily advancing and making good in the dis- charge of the duties which devolved upon him. It was often said that it was "Mr. Borland who made the Sun shine for all." In the summer of 1899 he worked on the Chieftain at Tecumseh, Nebraska, and then went to Gage county, where he published the Liberty Journal for two years. He was afterward at Holdrege, Nebraska, and for five years was employed on the Progress as foreman, with C. Clinton Page as editor, but the confining work of the printing office was telling on his hitherto robust consti- tution and he severed his connection with the paper and went on the road as a traveling representative for the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler Type Foundry. After leaving the type foundry company he went to Auburn, Nebraska, there remaining for one year. On the expiration of that period he returned to Sterling, Nebraska, where he bought a half interest in the Sun and remained for about three years.

On the 26th of April, 1899, Mr. Borland was married to Miss Sarah M. Clinaburg. a danghter of Frederick and Clara Clinaburg, who were farming people of Nebraska. In March, 1910, Mr. Borland heard the call of the west and, severing his connection with the Sun, he came to Colorado and entered upon a career of steady progress that has made his name known throughout the state. He located first on a homestead in Washington county and proved up on the property. For four years he was employed on the Brush Tribune, doing good work that called for mechanical skill in connection with newspaper publication. The attractions of Flagler, however, soon proved alluring and in April, 1915, he removed to the city and purchased the Flagler News a paper that was then apparently in its last stages. It took Mr. Borland, however, but a short time to bring about a change. The people were quick to notice the improved condition of

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the paper and recognized the fact that its editor was the right man for the place. 'The circulation increased rapidly, the business growing by leaps and bounds from two hun- dred and seventy subscribers to six hundred, and the list is steadily increasing. With the injection of new ideas and modern methods the paper attracted the attention of the business men of the town and they began according it a liberal advertising patron- age. The plant is thoroughly modern in its equipment and Mr. Borland is a master printer in the true definition of the word. He has handled "copy" time and again in such an attractive manner that his articles have won a large support for the paper. Mr. Borland's wife and son are also interested with him in his work.

To Mr. and Mrs. Borland has been born one child, Harold G., whose birth occurred May 14, 1900. He completed the eighth grade work in the public schools and in 1915 entered the Flagler high school, in which he completed the four years' course in three years. He graduated with the highest average of his class, of which he was made the president. He was also for the three years top man in all. the sports and is now a member of the United States Naval Training Corps at Boulder. He received a four years' college scholarship in the University of Colorado at Boulder from the Flagler high school.

Mr. Borland is a supporter of the democratic party, which has called him to the chairmanship of the county central committee. He is a Master Mason and the rules which govern his conduct are further indicated in his membership in the Congre- gational church, in which he is serving on the board of trustees. He devotes all of his time to the printing business, to his home interests, his church relationships and his duties as a citizen. He has recently completed a beautiful home in Flagler and the years which he has spent in Colorado have been very successful ones, resulting in the attainment of an enviable position in the journalistic circles of the state.

JAMES R. BRAMLEY, M. D.

Dr. James R. Bramley, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Denver, was born in Jordan, New York, March 27, 1885. His father, John G. Bramley, was also a native of the Empire state, where his people have lived through several generations. The family comes of English ancestry and the American branch was founded by William Bramblee, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Since that time the spelling of the name has been changed to its present form.

William Bramblee was born in England in 1747 and crossed the Atlantic in 1760, at which time he settled at Bovina Center, New York, where he followed farming, and most of his descendants were also tillers of the soil. He was a representative of an old and prominent family of Stafford and of Chester, England. Among the family there were several well known barristers and others who left the impress of their individu- ality and ability upon the public life of the community. The ancestral line can be traced back to the opening years of the thirteenth century, when King John of England was on the throne. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth in her eighth year, a son of John B. Bramblee, Esq., was a recorder in the city of London, and in 1566 one of the family was commissioned with the Marquis of Northampton to hear and pass upon all kinds of treason, riot and felony cases. He died March 14, 1568, and by reason of his position of chancellor was buried in Westminster Abbey. Other members of the family, according to official records, were knights, peers and members of parliament. William Bramblee, the founder of the American branch of the family, married Miss Gertrude Kidder and from them the ancestral line is traced down to John G. Bramley, the father of Dr. Bramley of this review. He was a lawyer by profession and a graduate of Yale. He practiced in Syracuse and in Jordan, New York, and died in the latter place in the fall of 1910, when sixty-one years of age. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and he took a very active and helpful interest in politics and in civic matters. He served for some time as justice of the peace. He married Amelia Hardy, a native of New York and a descendant of one of the old families of that state, of Scotch lineage. They became the parents of three sons, of whom two are living, the younger being Charles M. Bramley, an attorney at law, practicing at Syra- cuse, New York.

Dr. James R. Bramley was educated in the public schools of Jordan, New York, and following his graduation from high school entered the New York Homeopathic & Flower Hospital, where he pursued a thorough course in medicine and was graduated in 1910 with the M. D. degree. After his graduation he served for two years as interne in Hahnemann Hospital of New York and then entered upon active practice at Summit,

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New Jersey, where he remained for five years. He next removed to Denver, where he arrived in October, 1916, and since then he has been actively and continuously engaged in practice. Moreover, his efforts have been very successful and his practice has steadily grown in volume and importance as the years have passed. He belongs to the Colorado State Medical Society, the American Medical Association the Colorado State Homeopathic Society, of which he is the secretary, and the American Institute of Homeopathy.

On the 28th of October, 1911, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Dr. Bramley was united in marriage to Miss Georgie E. Ferris, a native of Brooklyn, New York, and of English descent. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ferris and the family has long been represented in Brooklyn, although her parents live in Asbury Park, New Jersey. To Dr. and Mrs. Bramley have been born two sons: Gilbert, whose birth occurred in Arlington, New Jersey, December 15, 1912; and Howard Ferris, born September 3, 1915, in Summit, New Jersey.

Dr. Bramley is a republican in politics where national questions and issues are involved but casts his ballot independently at local elections. He helongs to Park Hill Lodge, No. 148, A. F. & A. M., of Denver; also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to the Lions Club and to the Kiwanis Club. In the work of the Park Hill Methodist church he is deeply interested, being one of its earnest members, and he is acting as one of the church stewards and as editor of the Church Bulletin. He finds his chief diversion in hunting, fishing and outdoor life. Whatever success he has achieved is attributable to his own efforts. He was employed on the day line of the Hudson River boats running from Albany to New York during his vacations and from his savings paid his college tuition. He thus indicated the elemental strength of his character-a strength that has enabled him to overcome obstacles and difficulties and push steadily forward to the goal of his hopes and his ambition. He is a capable physician, thoroughly in earnest and conscientious in the performance of his duties. His ability is recognized by his professional colleagues and has placed him prominently at the front as a homeopathic physician.

JACOB N. HOLLENBAUGH.

Jacob N. Hollenbaugh is now one of the successful real estate dealers of Cheyenne Wells. He has known, however, what hard times mean in pioneer days, but with courage and determination he has overcome obstacles and difficulties in his path and worked his way steadily upward, his record being such as commands the respect and esteem of all. He has justly won the proud American title of a self-made man and deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. He was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, August 13, 1866, a son of William T. and Hannah (Kunkle) Hollenbaugh. The father was a contractor and at the time of the Civil war responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in defense of the Union.

Jacob N. Hollenbaugh was educated in the common schools and after his textbooks were put aside spent his time upon his father's farm of forty-seven acres until he reached the age of eighteen and a half years. He then left home to try his fortune in- dependently, making his way to Marshall county, Kansas, where he worked for a year at the carpenter's trade. In the next spring he removed to Gove county, Kansas, and filed on a preemption. After a year and a half he returned to Marshall county, where he remained until the spring of 1888. He then worked in Marysville, Kansas, at carpentering, and afterward went to Topeka, Kansas. A few months later he entered the railroad employ and worked at the roundhouses. Subsequently he was at Junction City, Kansas, for three weeks but on the expiration of that period came to Colorado, reaching Cheyenne Wells on the 8th of December, 1889. He followed the same kind of work for a few weeks here and then went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he was employed in the roundhouses, machine shops and in other branches of railroad work. On severing his connection with that line of activity he again took up carpentering.

It was in 1890 that Mr. Hollenbaugh was married to Miss Jennie Adams, a daughter of Timothy and Eliza T. (Mclaughlin) Adams, the former a mason by trade. Mr. Hollenbaugh then filed on a homestead in Burlington, living thereon for two and a half years, after which he came to his present home in Cheyenne Wells. About this time, too, he went to Colorado Springs and worked at the building trade. He erected a big store at Fountain and also was the builder of the residence of Gordon

JACOB N. HOLLENBAUGH

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Jones, the most prominent financier of the west. Returning to Cheyenne county, he soon afterward settled twelve miles southeast of Kit Carson and purchased a hundred head of cattle, devoting his attention to ranching and cattle raising for two and half years, after which he disposed of his cattle and again took up his abode in Cheyenne Wells. Here he joined I. F. Jones, Charles H. Norman and H. C. Nelson in organizing the Cheyenne Wells cement block factory, which was conducted by the four gentlemen for a year. At the end of that time one other partner and Mr. Hollenbaugh remained sole owners of the business enterprise, which they conducted together for two and a half years, when Mr. Hollenbaugh purchased his partner's interest and engaged in the manufacture of cement blocks alone until August, 1913. He then turned his attention to the garage business, building the Overland Garage and admitting C. O. Sears to a partnership in the undertaking. After a year and a half he purchased his partner's interest, for Mr. Sears had been elected county clerk and recorder. On the 6th of Angust, 1917, Mr. Hol- Ienbaugh sold the garage and turned his attention to the real estate business, in which he is engaged at the present time. He has seen many changes in this part of the country, for in the early days of his residence here pioneer conditions existed. In his travels he has seen many antelopes on the prairies and also herds of wild horses. During one winter in the early days he had only twenty-four dollars for food and could not get work anywhere, but persistent energy and unfaltering courage have carried him steadily forward until he is now far on the highway to prosperity.

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History of Colorado; Volume III, Part 66

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