USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 7
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'Theodore Roosevelt.'"
On being relieved from duty in the Philippine islands, on account of illness, General Baldwin was assigned to duty as commanding general of the Department of Colorado, with headquarters at Denver, where he arrived April 1, 1903, retaining that command until ordered to the command of the Southwest Division.
General Baldwin was retired from active service June 26, 1906, by operation of law, at which time he was in command of the Southwest Military Division, with headquarters at Oklahoma City.
In every branch of the service in which General Baldwin has been engaged he has received the highest commendation and indorsement of his superiors. His promotions have come as the merited reward of loyalty, ability and thorough knowledge of military science.
On the 4th of March, 1915, Frank Dwight Baldwin was appointed major general, U. S. A., and placed upon the retired list by act of congress, approved that date. This promotion and retirement with increase of rank, was the nation's tribute to a hero of the Civil war, the Indian wars, the Spanish-American war and the Philippine insurrection. a military record of bravery which has few parallels. On the 1st of April, 1917, the state of Colorado, his adopted state, called him out of his retirement, when he was appointed and commissioned the adjutant general of the state by Governor Julius C. Gunter, and he is now on duty in one of the most critical periods of American history. This was his state's tribute to his military knowledge and skill and to the active and alert mind which seems to set age at defiance.
General Baldwin's first glimpse of Colorado occurred during the latter part of June, 1867, when in command of the escort to Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, which had left Fort Harker, Kansas, the early part of the month. General Baldwin's command camped in the cottonwood grove, where now is located the Country Club of Denver, and while resting there the beauty of the Colorado country so impressed him that he there made the decision to make this his home state in later years.
General Baldwin became a member of Siloam Lodge, No. 35, A. F. & A. M., at Constan- tine, Michigan, in 1863 and in 1892 was made a member of Colorado Commandery of the Loyal Legion. He was admitted to the National Geographic Society at Washington, D. C., in 1916; in 1897 he was made a member of the Order of Indian Wars, joining the National Commandery at Washington; was made a member of the Army & Navy Club of Waslı- ington in 1913, and at various other places in the country has received distinguished honors of similar character. He was made an honorary member of the Denver Club in 1903, of the Commercial Club of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the same year, and of the Yavapai Club of Prescott, Arizona. in 1903, in which year he also became a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, Colorado Commandery. He is likewise an honorary member of Camp General Henry W. Lawton, No. 1, United Spanish
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War Veterans, with which he has thus been identified since January 12, 1905. The military records and reports of the country continuously bear testimony to his splendid service from the time of his enlistment as a second lieutenant in the Michigan Horse Guards to the present hour, in which he is bearing his part in defending the interests and honor of the nation as adjutant general of the state of Colorado.
JUDGE JOSEPH CHURCH HELM.
Lawyer, jurist, statesman. the unwearied industry of Judge Joseph Church Helm, supplemented by the intellectual force with which nature endowed him, won him rank with Colorado's eminent men and the commonwealth honored him by making him one of its representatives on the supreme bench. He was born in Chicago, June 30, 1848, a son of Ruggles and Sarah ( Bass) Helm, a grandson of Woodhull Helm and a great-grandson of Henry Helme, who, settling in Rhode Island, hecame the founder of the family in America. Through the paternal line he is descended from the Ruggles family and among his paternal ancestors were those who fought for American independence in the war of the Revolution.
The boyhood of Judge Helm was passed in Canada and in Iowa and when a lad of but thirteen years he enlisted for service in the Civil war as a drummer boy. In 1861 he enlisted in the Thirteenth United States Infantry and served throughout the war in that regiment and in the Sixth Infantry of the First Army Corps, also known as Hancock's Corps. being commanded by General Hancock, and in the Armies of the Tennessee and the Potomac. He saw active duty in some of the most hotly contested engagements of the war, including the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Cham- pion Hills, Jackson, Vicksburg, Colliersville and others, and for a time he was a prisoner on Belle Isle. Four years of warfare transformed the boy into a man in experience, although he was hut seventeen years of age when hostilities ceased. He then entered the University of Iowa and afterward took up the profession of teaching, being connected with the public schools of Van Buren and of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1870 until 1873, acting during part of this time as superintendent of schools. Teaching, however, was to him only a means to an end, as it was his pur- pose to prepare for the bar and he became a law student in the University of Iowa, where he was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1874. In 1890 his alma mater conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. Admitted to practice in 1875, he entered upon the active work of the profession in Colorado Springs, where he became associated with Judge E. A. Colburn.
That the members of the bar have been more prominent actors in public affairs than any other class of the community cannot be denied. This is but the natural result of causes which are manifest and require no explanation. The ability and training which qualify one to practice law also qualify him in many respects for duties which lie outside the strict path of his profession and which touch the gen- eral interests of society. It was not long before Judge Helm was called upon for public service. He was elected to represent his district in the general assembly of 1877 and in the state senate of 1879 and he most carefully guarded the interests of the commonwealth as well as those of El Paso county, which he represented. In 1880 he was called upon for judicial service, being elected to the district bench, and after two years he became a member of the Colorado supreme court, to which he was reelected in 1891, serving as chief justice from 1889 until 1892. In that year he resigned his position as supreme court judge and became a candidate for governor on the republican ticket. The populist party was then in the ascendency, and al- though Judge Heim had hitherto been a successful candidate on the republican ticket, he was defeated for governor by Davis H. Waite.
Resuming the private practice of law, Judge Helm continued an active member of the bar until his death save that he was temporarily appointed to fill a vacancy on the supreme bench, where he served from 1907 until 1909. He declined an offered position as commissioner of the United States general land office and as United States assistant attorney general. He was also strongly endorsed for other important federal appointments, including that of secretary of the interior and member of the United States circuit bench. For a considerable period he was attorney for the Moffat Rail- road and for the Moffat estate and in that connection made a lasting reputation. His legal efforts in behalf of the Moffat tunnel through James' Peak were particularly noteworthy.
On the 27th of September, 1881. Judge Helm was married to Marcia Stewart,
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daughter of George H. Stewart, of Colorado Springs, who for the benefit of his health sought the mountain climate, removing to Colorado in 1874 from Wisconsin, where Mrs. Helm was born. She survives her husband and has proven most capable in the management of his estate.
Judge Helm had membership in the Denver Club, the Denver Athletic Club, in the Masonic fraternity and in Abraham Lincoln Post, G. A. R. He passed away May 13, 1915, leaving a record that adds new dignity and honor to the judicial history of the state. There is great credit due Judge Helm for what he achieved in life, for he was the builder of his own success, beginning life's work as a poor boy with no advantages of birth. After being honorably discharged from the army he used his savings for his further education and, in fact, paid his own way in order to enjoy college training, and prepare himself for a professional career. He was a man of unwearied industry and this quality was one of his most distinguishing characteristics, lending itself in marked measure to the attainment of the notable success which he won as lawyer and judge.
CHARLES H. SMALL.
Charles H. Small, engaged in the practice of law in Denver, is perhaps even more widely known by reason of his activity in the field of diplomatic service. However, as a member of the bar he is making steady progress and his developing powers have brought to him a liberal and well deserved clientage. He was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Sep- tember 2, 1880, a son of Charles E. and Laura A. (Hughey) Small, both of whom were natives of Illinois. In early life the parents removed to Kansas City, Missouri, and the father became a well known attorney there. He is now representing one of the oldest law firms of the city and has long been accorded a foremost position in the ranks of the eminent lawyers of that section.
Charles H. Small was the eldest in a family of seven children. In early boyhood he attended the public schools of Kansas City, Missouri, and afterward became a student in the University of Pennsylvania. In preparation for a professional career he entered the Kansas City School of Law, from which he was graduated with the class of 1903. He then entered into the active practice of his profession in Kansas City. Among the public capacities in which he there served was that of member of the original child labor com- mission of Missouri which drafted the first child labor law of that state. Mr. Small re- mained in Kansas City actively engaged in the work of his profession until 1909, at which time he became connected with the United States diplomatic and consular service, in which he served at Bogota, Colombia; Guatemala City, Guatemala, and in Santo Domingo City, San Domingo, under the Taft administration. He came to Colorado in 1916 and has since practiced his profession in Denver. While his residence does not yet cover two years, he has already made for himself an enviable place in the ranks of the legal fraternity, while his genuine personal worth has gained for him a circle of friends that is continually increasing as the circle of his acquaintance widens. Moreover, Mr. Small has again actively identified himself with patriotic and public affairs, being a member of the executive board of The Colorado Patriotic League, and other organizations of a similar character. His fraternal connections include membership in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity.
GEORGE C. EVANS.
George C. Evans, engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business in Pueblo, was born in New London county, Connecticut, on the 25th of February, 1857, a son of J. D. and Julia A. (Crosby) Evans. The mother was a descendant of one of the old and prominent New England families represented in that section of the country from colonial times. Both Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Evans have passed away. Their family numbered six sons and four daughters.
George C. Evans, who was the fourth in order of birth, was accorded liberal educa- tional opportunities by his parents in his early youth. He attended the public and high schools and was afterward a student in a private academy and in a military school at Norwalk, Connecticut. But the spirit of adventure caused him in his boyhood to go to sea for a brief period. He sailed for South America but the ship was wrecked and he then made his way to his old home. He afterward pursued a commercial course in
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Pierce's Business College at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and following his graduation he turned his attention to the furniture business in connection with an older brother; but the lure of the west was upon him and in 1879 he left New England for Colorado, where he became connected with a surveying crew. Thus he became acquainted with the experiences and hardships of frontier life. The surveyors had trouble with the Indians and other difficulties constituted a part of his experience in connection with survey work upon the western frontier. He afterward took up business as a furniture salesman and was so engaged for a number of years. He also spent some time as a commercial salesman in other lines and in 1890 he removed to Pueblo, where he opened a real estate, loan and insurance agency, which he has since successfully con- ducted. He is thoroughly familiar with real estate conditions, knows the property that is upon the market and is most correct in placing valuations thereon. He has negotiated many important realty transfers and his clientage has assumed gratifying proportions. He also has a well organized loan and insurance department and these various branches of his business are bringing to him well merited success.
On the 23d of October, 1898, Mr. Evans was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Eichhorn, a native of Iowa and a representative of one of the prominent families of that state. They have become parents of a son, George T., who is now in the internal revenue service.
In politics Mr. Evans maintains an independent course. His desire is that politics shall be kept clean and his activities have ever been toward that end with civic better- ment as an objective. He has always declined to become a candidate for office but has never been remiss in the duties of citizenship and stands for all those things which he believes will prove of permanent worth and value to his community. He holds mem- bership in the Episcopal church, while his wife belongs to the Congregational church and in musical circles she is very active and prominent. They are both well known socially and enjoy the warm regard of all with whom they have been brought in contact. Various experiences have come to Mr. Evans in the course of his active life, which in time brought him to the west. He is fully satisfied to make Colorado his home, recognizing the advantages and opportunities of the state, and he feels and appreciates that his interests are thoroughly allied with those of Pueblo.
RAYMOND MILLER.
On the roster of public officials in Colorado appears the name of Raymond Miller, of Denver, who is the president of the state board of land commissioners and whose record has been characterized by marked devotion to duty and intelligent and capable fulfillment of all of the tasks entrusted to his care. He comes to the west from Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Millersburg, that state, on the 20th of December, 1862. He is descended from English ancestry, the family having been founded in America in an early day. Representatives of the name became pioneer residents of Kentucky and there James M. Miller, father of Raymond Miller, was born and reared. He be- came a successful farmer and stockman, spending his entire life in Bourbon county, Kentucky, where the family home had been established in the eighteenth century and where his brother, Dr. W. M. Miller, a prominent physician, still resides. During the Civil war an elder brother. J. A. Miller, served with the Confederate army under John A. Morgan as a private. He joined the troops when fifteen years of age and continued at the front until the close of hostilities. James M. Miller was quite active and successful in the conduct of his farming interests, lived a quiet, unassuming life and was a devout and loyal member of the Methodist church. He never desired or sought political honors or emoluments and passed away in Kentucky in 1878 at the age of fifty-seven years, thus terminating a quiet but altogether useful career. He had married Rachel Andrew Jackson Hitt, who was born in Kentucky and belonged to one of its oldest and most prominent pioneer families of English descent. Mrs. Miller passed away in 1905 on the old homestead when seventy-nine years of age. In the family were six sons and two daughters.
Raymond Miller, who was the seventh in order of birth, was educated in the district schools in Millersburg and in the Kentucky Wesleyan College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1882. His early experiences were those of the farm- bred boy who divides his time between the duties of the schoolroom, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the fields. He remained at home until 1882 and after his graduation removed to Atlanta, Georgia, where he secured employment with the wholesale dry good shouse of M. C. & J. F. Kaiser. He then entered upon clerical lines Vol. 111-4
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and remained in Atlanta until 1886, when he determined to try his fortune in the west. For a year he resided in Scott county, Kansas, and then removed to eastern Colorado taking up his abode in what was then Bent county but is now Kiowa county. He was a pioneer settler, taking up his abode there prior to the building of railroads or the organization of the new county. With the formation of Kiowa county he was elected the first county treasurer and occupied that position for two terms, or four years. He next served as register of the United States land office at Pueblo, occupying that position for a period of four years, and upon his return to Kiowa county he engaged in the live stock business, in which he still retains his holdings. He is one of the owners of one of the largest sheep and horse ranches in the state and his interests along that line have been most carefully and wisely directed. On the 18th of January, 1917, Mr. Miller was appointed to his present office, that of president of the state board of land commissioners, by Governor J. C. Gunter for a term of six years, and this position he has since successfully filled. Aside from his other business and official duties he is a director of the Colorado State Bank of Haswell, Colorado.
In politics Mr. Miller has always been a stanch democrat and for sixteen years has been a member of the democratic state central committee, doing valuable and important work in that connection. In 1916 he was made chairman of the state central committee and still acts in that capacity. He does everything in his power to promote the legiti- mate growth and success of his party, believing most firmly in its principles, and his efforts in this connection have been far-reaching and resultant. He cooperates in everything that has to do with civic advancement and civic virtue and his name as an endorsement upon any plan or measure secures to it a large following. He was made a Mason in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1895 and now has membership in Eads Lodge, No. 142, A. F. & A. M. He is a faithful follower of the craft, loyal to its teachings and its purposes. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the west, for here he has found the business opportunities which he sought and in their utilization has made steady progress toward the goal of prosperity. At the same time his sterling personal worth and ability have gained recognition at the hands of his fellow townsmen, who have called him to office, benefiting by the value of his service and his marked devotion to the public good.
COLONEL WILLIAM EDGAR HUGHES.
Returning a ready response to every call of opportunity, Colonel William Edgar Hughes found that every step in his business career brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. He never hesitated to take a forward step if the way was opened and his activities were of a character that contributed to public progress as well as to individual success. He instituted important business enterprises, became a leading stockman of Texas and, moreover, was known as one of the leading philan- thropists of this state. Death called him on July 29, 1918. when he had traveled life's journey for seventy-eight years, four months and fifteen days.
Colonel Hughes was born in Jacksonville, Morgan county, Illinois, March 15, 1840, a son of John and Eliza ( Rutherford) Hughes. The father was a progressive business man of Scotch-Irish descent. He always owned and cultivated his own land and his sole delight was his farm, his horses and his cattle. He was a devout churchman serving as an elder in the Presbyterian church. His wife was of Kentucky birth and of Scotch lineage the Rutherford family coming from Jedburgh, Scotland, near the English border in Sir Walter Scott's country. The Rutherfords were among the largest of the Scotch Highland clans and to this clan the mother of Sir Walter Scott belonged.
William E. Hughes began his education in the country schools "kept in a little frame schoolhouse of one room distant not over a half mile from the modest brick and wooden farmhouse in which we lived." Upon leaving Illinois College where his scholastic success was somewhat marred by his love of life and outdoor action, he began the study of law. It was while loitering about the courthouse of Jacksonville prior to the Civil war that he listened in most interested manner to the arguments of the eminent attorneys of the day and this led him to choose the law as a profession. He also heard the debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858 and adopted the principles of Lincoln as his own despite the fact that he was reared in a democratic atmosphere. His estimate of Lincoln was that he was "the one great American" and that had he survived the years following the Civil war his great heart would have found a way by which the south would have been spared the horrors of the reconstruction. In the winter of 1859 Colonel Hughes received a letter from a
COL. WILLIAM E. HUGHES
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distant cousin stating that the latter's father was building a quartz mill and asking William E. Hughes to accompany him to Pike's Peak. Colonel Hughes obtained his father's consent and started. He reached Kansas City by stage but lost his baggage en route. Arriving there, from which point the materials and equipment for the quartz mill were to be taken to Colorado, he found that the idea had proved a failure and his dream of reaching Pike's Peak had vanished. He then assisted his cousin in driving a flock of three thousand sheep from Missouri to Texas and for three months followed the flocks through a country into which railroads had not yet penetrated. During the winter of 1860 he herded sheep on a range near Dallas and devoted his evenings to the study of law until after the outbreak of the Civil war. Before enter- ing the army, however, he made a trip to his old home in Illinois, where he remained for three months. After the capture of Fort Sumter he started back to the southland and enlisted with forces under General Price in southern Missouri. He asked, how- ever, to be transferred to a Texas artillery regiment. He participated in the battle of Pea Ridge just after meeting the Texas troops, being transferred to the First Texas Artillery as private. Later, however, he was offered the captaincy of the artillery company, which he accepted, and subsequently was promoted to the rank of colonel of the Sixteenth Texas Regiment of Cavalry. He took part in the battles of Shiloh, Mufreesboro, Chickamauga, Nashville, Richmond and several of lesser im- portance.
When the war was over Colonel Hughes settled at Weatherford, Texas, where he engaged in teaching school for a few months, and during the same period continued his studies for the bar, being admitted to practice in Weatherford, where he remained for eight years. The place was a frontier town in one of the richest counties of the state. At the close of the Civil war it was nothing but a frontier trading post. In the untrodden western Texas it was first necessary to get rid of the buffaloes and then the Indians. For years western Texas was terrorized by roving bands of Indians and more than once Colonel Hughes pursued the intruders or was pursued by them. Many times he drove over the road at night with his wife to avoid possible attack in the daytime.
It was on the 21st of November, 1867, that Colonel Hughes was married to Miss Annie C. Peete, of Fort Worth, Texas. To them was born a daughter, Eliza Clifton, who later became the wife of John W. Springer. Her death in 1904 was a great shock to Colonel Hughes, but the sting of his grief was alleviated somewhat when his grand- daughter, now Mrs. Lafayette M. Hughes, came to live with him.
It was while engaged in the practice of law in Weatherford that the opportunity to enter the banking business presented itself to Colonel Hughes. In the spring of 1871 a wagon train was attacked by a band of Indians and the train burned. The owner of the train was indebted to the banking firm of Couts & Fain, of Weatherford, who immediately sought the services of the young attorney in collecting the money · due. So successfully did he acquit himself that he was offered the position of handling the affairs of the bank. He accepted and remained with the bank until 1873, when he removed to Dallas. With his wife and five year old daughter he made the trip to Dallas in a buggy, carrying with him seventeen thousand dollars and also an additional sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, belonging to two of his friends. A private banker of Dallas agreed to put in twelve thousand, five hundred dollars with Mr. Hughes and his friends and the City Bank of Dallas, now the City National Bank, was incorporated with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. It has become the largest financial institution of that city and its success is attributable in substantial measure to the broad and safe foundation upon which Colonel Hughes founded the institution. After seven years' connection therewith he retired from the bank and removed in 1880, to St. Louis, where he made his home until 1885. In that year he returned to Dallas and again entered the banking field as president of the Exchange National Bank, but the growth of his business interests necessitated his spending much time in St. Louis, where he practiced law and a few years later he formed and became president of the Continental Land and Cattle Company, one of the largest organizations of the kind in the world. He was a most prominent representative of the cattle industry for many years, remaining president of the Continental company for more than a quarter of a century, and during that time he saw the business grow in a manner that has never been equalled by any large stock organization. He figured actively along other lines as well. In 1891 he was elected president of the Union Trust Company of St. Louis, being the second in that office since the existence of that institution.
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