USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 91
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JOHN HITTSON
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at Fort Worth, Texas. Frances is the wife of Edward N. Brown, of Denver, whom she weaded October 30. 1895. They have two children: Frances Irene, who was born August 28, 1896, and is a graduate of the East Denver high school and the Milwaukee Downer School; and Edward Newton, Jr., who was born April 18, 1899, and was employed by the J. S. Brown Company of Denver until October 12, 1918, when he enlisted in the United States Army motor truck service. John, the next member of the family, is deceased: and one other child died in infancy.
FRONA ABBOTT. M. D.
Dr. Frona Abbott. actively engaged in the practice of medicine in Denver and well known as an able educator in her chosen field, is a native of Broome county, New York. She is the sole survivor of two children born to Henry Martin and Elmira (Knox) Abbott, both of whom were likewise natives of the Empire state. The father was a direct de- scendant of that branch of the Abbott family known as the "Andover Abbotts," a family that has contributed in no small measure to the making of our country's history, and which numbers among its members numerous men and women of note.
Dr. Frona Abbott acquired her early education in the public schools of her native state, afterward becoming a student at the Afton Union Academy. Later she pursued a classical course of study at Oneonta Normal College, graduating therefrom as a member of the class of 1893. She thus acquired a broad literary education serving as a founda- tion upon which to rear the superstructure of professional knowledge, her years of re- search as a student being further supplemented by her activities, during her early woman- hood. as a teacher of history and English in the schools of Woodside, New York. Later having decided to enter upon a career as a physician and surgeon, she became a student in the Denver Homeopathic College, from which she was graduated in 1899. She at once began the practice of her profession and has specialized in the treatment of diseases of women and children. She is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy and keeps fully informed through careful research and investigation, with the most advanced methods of the profession. Dr. Abbott has also received merited honors as a teacher of pathology and histology in the Denver Homeopathic College, and has also pursued post- graduate work in New York, and in Vienna, Austria.
In addition to her professional duties, Dr. Abbott has ever taken keen interest in the affairs of the day, and the material, intellectual and moral progress of the community in which she has elected to make her home, find in her an ardent advocate and supporter, the while she is recognized as a leading and capable representative of the medical pro- fession.
WILLIAM H. BRISBANE.
William H. Brisbane was for a quarter of a century identifed with the industrial and business development of the west, making his home, in Colorado from 1879 until his demise on the 10th of September, 1905. He was born in Allentown. Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of November, 1851, a son of the Rev. William H. Brisbane, who was a minister of the Methodist church and who was born in the state of New York. Becoming identified with the ministry, he was for many years a prominent clergyman of Philadelphia and passed away in the year 1862, when his son William was in his eleventh year. The wife and mother bore the maiden name of Jennie Biggs. She was born in Delaware, was a sister of ex-Governor Benjamin T. Biggs of that state and was descended from Revolutionary war ancestry.
William H. Brisbane was educated in the Quaker schools of Philadelphia and after putting aside his textbooks learned the printer's trade. The opportunities of the west, however, attracted him and in 1876 he left Pennsylvania to become a resident of Wyoming, arriving in Cheyenne in that year. He there worked in a brickyard for a time but afterward turned his attention to the real estate business, in which he met with a fair measure of success. In 1879 he removed to Leadville, Colorado, where for twenty-two years he carried on the real estate business, handling much important property during that period. In 1901 he returned to Denver, where his remaining days were passed.
On the 16th of March, 1897, Mr. Brisbane was united in marriage to Miss Florence B. Maulding, of MeLeansboro, Illinois, who was, however, engaged in teaching school
DR. FRONA ABBOTT
Vol. III-43
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In Leadville. Colorado, at the time of their marriage. They became the parents of a son, William Henry Brisbane, who was horn March 24, 1901, and is a member of the class of 1919 at the East Denver high school.
In his political views Mr. Brisbane was always a republican, prominent in the councils of the party and recognized as one of its leaders in the state. In 1888 he was called to the office of state treasurer and filled that position for two years, making a most creditable record. While he was undoubtedly not without that laudable ambition which is so valuable as an incentive for capable service in public office, he neverthe- less regarded the pursuits of private life as in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts and he so directed his labors in the field of real estate as to win a very substantial competence, leaving his family in comfortable financial circumstances when on the 10th of September, 1905, he was called to his final rest. The many substantial and admirable traits of his character won for him the high regard of all with whom he had come in contact and made his death the occasion of deep regret not only to his immediate family but to friends throughout the entire state.
JOSEPH A. COLLINS.
Joseph A. Collins is a prominent real estate dealer and leading farmer of Kit Carson county, Colorado, conducting his real estate office at Stratton. His friends, and they are many. speak of him as a "live wire" in business and all recognize that he possesses the dynamic force that is contributing in substantial measure to the devel- opment and upbuilding of the district in which he lives. His record is the story of steady progression, resulting from unfaltering industry, intelligently directed.
Mr. Collins is a native of Dodgeville, Iowa county, Wisconsin, born in June, 1875, and is the eldest of the seven children of R. G. W. and Sarah Collins, who were farming people of the Badger state. His educational privileges were limited, for at the age of eight years he commenced working out. When seventeen years of age he purchased a farm of two hundred acres and stocked it with cows, horses, hogs and poultry. He then engaged in raising small grain and hay. He purchased the farm by making a small payment of two hundred dollars down and thereafter making his payments on the installment plan. He continued the work of development and improvement and at the end of four years had realized three thousand dollars from the farm. This gave him a start in life. He invested the money wisely and for the next year or two he traveled at intervals through different parts of the country, looking at land in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Later he went to the town of Estevan, Canada, and in that vicinity purchased land during the summer but soon afterward sold it. Later he made several trips to Canada between the years 1900 and 1905. During this period he con- tinued to make Dodgeville, Wisconsin. his place of residence, but his business enter- prise was manifest in various investments during that period. In the winter of the latter year he went to Bailey county, Texas, where he remained during the cold season in the town of Seymour. He then removed to Goodland, Kansas, looking over the country in that district, after which he made his way to Burlington, Colorado, on an inspection tour of this section and spent several weeks in the state. A little later he returned to Colorado with four of his brothers. In April, 1906, he also filed on a home- stead in the vicinity of Burlington, the place being located about twenty miles south- west of the town on the open prairie. Settlers were few and far between at that time and there were many hardships to be endured. All of the brothers turned their atten- tion to the live stock business and also engaged in farming to some extent. They raised horses and cattle and, like the others, Mr. Collins met with success in this undertaking.
At length Joseph A. Collins took up his abode in Stratton and engaged in the hard- ware husiness but left his family for a time upon the farm. He conducted his hardware store for five years and during that time he extended considerable credit to farmers in the neighborhood who were unable to pay because of crop failure and some of them also were not familiar with farming conditions in this section of the state. This resulted in Mr. Collins closing. out his hardware business in the fall of 1916. He and his brothers still have their claims, which are now well improved and constitute valnable farming properties of eastern Colorado. They have over one thousand acres under a high state of cultivation and during the year 1918 raised thirty-six hundred and sev- enty bushels of rye and have about forty ricks of wheat and barley to thresh. which will average from one hundred to one hundred and fifty bushels to the rick. Mr. Col- lins also has one hundred head of horses on his ranch, some of them being registered stock, and he also has fifty head of high bred cattle. In fact, all of his live stock is
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high bred, and his farming and stock raising interests have been wisely, carefully and successfully conducted.
Mr. Collins has always been interested in real estate and in recent years has devoted his attention more and more largely to operations along that line. There have been wonderful sales of land made in Colorado during the past few years, bringing into the country thousands and thousands of dollars. Mr. Collins has sold properties to people coming from Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and also to some extent from North and South Dakota. Most of the settlers who are coming in at the present time have plenty of money, are building fine homes and putting excellent im- provements upon their land, which they are bringing under a high state of cultivation, using tractors and all modern machinery in the development of their property. In his real estate dealings Mr. Collins is prospering and his thorough knowledge of prop- erty and property valuations enables him to assist his clients in making judicious investments.
On the 30th of October, 1900, Mr. Collins was married at Ridgeway, Wisconsin, to Miss Nellie J. Jones, who was there born and is a daughter of Lawrence and Sarah Jones. Her mother died when she was very young. Her father was for many years actively engaged in farming but is now living retired at Ridgeway.
Mr. Collins is a member of Beaver Lodge, at Dodgeville, Wisconsin, and his religious belief is that of the Seventh Day Adventist church, while in political belief he is a republican. He is very energetic, resolute and determined, carrying forward to suc- cessful completion whatever he undertakes, and what he has accomplished places him among the foremost business men of his section of the state.
CHARLES A. CREEL.
Charles A. Creel, active in the real estate business in Arriba, was born in Iowa, October 7, 1857, a son of James F. and Lucy Frances (Newland) Creel. The father was engaged in the mercantile business, making his home at Afton, Union county, Iowa, where he settled in 1859 and he is now living at the advanced age of eighty- seven years with his son, Charles A. Creel.
In the public schools of his native state Charles A. Creel pursued his education and after his public school course was completed went to Des Moines, where he entered the Baptist University, pursuing a business course there. On leaving college he secured a clerkship in a mercantile establishment and his fidelity and capability are indicated in the fact that he remained with the firm for fifteen years and during the last three years was credit man with the house. His health then failed and hoping to be benefited by a change of climate, he came to Colorado in April, 1888, locating on the site where his office stands today. That was before the Rock Island Railroad was built through this district. He preempted the ground which includes the town site of Arriba, securing the northwest quarter of section 12, township 9, range 53, west. About this time the officials of the Rock Island visited the district and made all arrangements for the depot and in the fall built the station, the first rails being laid on the 23d of August, 1888. On the same day the first construction train went through the town, to which was given the Spanish name of Arriba. In that year Mr. Creel built the house which he now uses for an office and in which he ate his first meal on June 6, 1888, it being the first building upon the site, which is now occupied by the town of Arriba. In the spring of 1892 be went to Cripple Creek and interested himself in mining. He also got out commercial reports of conditions for Bradstreet and Dunn, and he likewise figured in public affairs of the community, being selected as a delegate to the national convention at Denver, held April 27, 1892. He was also elected a delegate to the congressional convention that convened at Colorado Springs, October 6, 1888, and afterward went to Pueblo on April 8, 1892. to the state convention, but subsequent to this time he took no active part in politics.
With the development of Arriba, Mr. Creel has been continuously and actively identified. He shipped the first grain from the county to Chicago and he still retains the stubs of his consignments, showing all particulars and giving evidence of the fact that he shipped grain in the fall and winters of 1891-92-93. Upon his return from Cripple Creek he became manager of a store for the Arriba Trading Company. who owned a general store and lumberyard. The first year he unloaded one hundred and nineteen cars of lumber. This was about September, 1906. After ten months, however, he returned to the real estate business, selling town lots, and also engaged in the insurance and loan business. In this connection he has negotiated many important
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES A. CREEL
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Panoramic View of Arriba
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property transfers and sales and there is no man in the locality who has a better knowledge of real estate values. In the year 1908 Mr. Creel was called to the office of justice of the peace for a two years' term and while thus serving he called the first primary election held in the county. It was a two days' job getting seven people together. He served as a delegate to the county convention at Elizabeth, Elbert county, to which he traveled a distance of one hundred and fifteen miles. He asked for a seat in the convention and this was granted him, but they would not allow him to use his proxy.
Mr. Creel became active in connection with the Cemetery Association, of which he is the secretary. It is a corporation conducted without profit and theirs is one of the finest cemeteries in the state. Mr. Creel also organized what is called a Harvest Home in September, 1891. It really had the nature of a district fair and he surprised the people by the variety and excellence of the products which were placed on exhibit there. This Harvest Home was an attractive feature of the life of the community for a number of years. Mr. Creel has ever been the leading factor in the upbuilding and development of the town of Arriba and has given liberally of his time, his money and his efforts to its welfare and promotion.
On the 28th of November, 1896, Mr. Creel was married to Miss Elizabeth A. Mum- ford, who was born in Dundee, Illinois, a daughter of Peleg and Phoebe Mumford, who lived to advanced ages and passed away in Colorado. They were farming people. Mrs. Creel and her two sisters homesteaded about one mile from the town of Arriba but during the past year they have sold all of their land to the value of sixteen thousand eight hundred dollars. Mr. Creel is the holder of extensive landed interests, having about one thousand acres in addition to his town lots. He joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1880 and became a charter member of Centennial Lodge, No. 34, of the Knights of Pythias at Afton, lowa, but has demitted from these organizations by withdrawal card. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. In fact there is no activity having to do with the material, intellectual, social, political and moral progress of the community with which he has not been associated and he has lived to witness remarkable changes during the period of his residence here, for the county was like a desert when he came and the most farsighted could scarcely have dreamed of the wonderful development which was soon to occur. There were still antelopes to be seen, but the days of the buffaloes and the Indians had passed. However, there were many hardships and privations to be horne that are incident to the settlement of the frontier. Mr. Creel met these courageously and by determined effort and good business tact and ability has won success. He is a most interesting story teller and conversationalist, meets people in a most pleasant manner and is highly repected by the community and by the banking fraternity throughout the state, who bear testimony to the fact that his word is as good as his bond.
JAMES F. LAW.
James F. Law, conducting a profitable and growing business under the name of the Law Automobile Company of Pueblo, was born in Crofthead, Scotland, on the 1st of March, 1868, and is a son of Robert and Mary (Forrest) Law. Crossing the Atlantic to America during the early boyhood of James F. Law, the parents estab- lished the family home at Lexington, Missouri, and there the subject of this review attended school, supplementing the knowledge that he had acquired in the graded schools of Scotland. He was afterward apprenticed to the blacksmith's and ma- chinist's trades, acquainting himself with the basic principles of both and develop- ing a considerable measure of efficiency. At the age of nineteen years he left home to work at his trade in Kansas City and later removed to Lexington, Missouri, where he entered the employ of the Lexington Coal Mine Company as a machinist. He resided there until 1903, when he removed to Pueblo, Colorado, and secured a position as a machinist in the steel works. He was afterward employed in different places, mostly along mechanical lines, and in 1914 he engaged in the automobile business, which has since claimed his time, energies and attention. He conducts a repair shop and garage, repairing all kinds of machines, his natural mechanical skill and ingenuity serving him in good stead in this connection. He has been very successful from the beginning. He started his business on a small scale but has secured a liberal patronage as the years have passed on. He now has room for twenty-five cars and he employs four men, making his one of the substantial indus- tries of this kind in the city.
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Mr. Law was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Weedin, a daughter of Dan W. Weedin, of Lexington, Missouri. The children of this mariage are: Daniel; James F., who is a sergeant in the balloon division of the aerial service in France; Mrs. Elizabeth Kane of Pueblo; John, a high school pupil; and Arthur and Rose, also in school.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Law also holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. In politics he main- tains an independent attitude, supporting men and measures rather than party. He is interested in educational progress and for three years served as secretary of School District No. 12. He is a public-spirited man, lending his aid and influence to all measures and movements for the general good, and his personal worth, his business integrity and his loyalty in citizenship are factors which establish him high in public regard in his adopted city,
CHARLES FRED BEST.
Death removed a prominent figure in the business circles of Denver when Charles Fred Best was called to his final rest May 24. 1918, after a residence of forty-seven years in Denver. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, September 2, 1869, a son of Cap- tain John D. and Martha (Hooper) Best, the former a native of New Minas, Nova Scotia, and the latter of Bath, Maine. The father was born February 18, 1836, and was descended from fine old English stock. His grandfather came from England in 1778, settling in New Minas, while in the maternal line John D. Best traced his ancestry back to John Whitman, who arrived in the new world from England in 1636, when six- teen years of age, and settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts.
The parents of John D. Best removed from Nova Scotia to Bath, Maine, when he was very young and there he pursued a public school education until he reached the age of fifteen, when he became very ill of fever. During his sickness he overheard the family physician saying that the boy would probably not live to manhood as his lungs were affected. Human ingenuity and determination, however, seem at times to outwit fate. The lad determined to make every effort to win health and resolved to do so by going to sea. After gaining the reluctant consent of his parents he went to sea at the age of fifteen years and made one voyage after another, although three times suffering shipwreck. He continued to sail on salt water for a number of years and then with two young English companions who had been officers of British ships made his way up the Mississippi river to Chicago, where they arrived with only a few dollars among them. They believed they could easily obtain employment on some of the ships plying the Great Lakes hut it was some time before their perseverance won for them positions. Each, however, made good and progressed as fresh water sailors, Captain Best becoming at length the owner and commander of a fine barkentine plying in the grain trade between Chicago and Buffalo. Captain Best spent ten years as a sailor on the lakes and then established a ship chandlery business in Chicago in connection with the late J. W. Crawford, who was a native of North Bath, Maine. Upon the retirement of Mr. Crawford from the firm Mr. Best was joined by Mr. Dickin- son and the business was continued until the great Chicago fire of October, 1871. Their insurance was all carried with home companies, who, owing to the fire, were forced into bankruptcy, so that the firm of Best & Dickinson received not a single cent of insurance. Soon after the fire they were made distributors of all the relief goods sent to the stricken city, which entailed a vast amount of lahor and responsibility. That, added to the anxiety attendant upon his business reverses owing to the destructiveness of the fire and also owing to his asthma, from which Mr. Best had suffered for a number of years, forced him to leave Chicago and seek henefit elsewhere. His partner in 1872 advised him to go to Colorado and after selling what little remained of his business he set out with his wife and four children for this state. Financial conditions obliged him to be away from his Denver home much of the time, engaged in buying produce in Kansas, which he sold in the mountain regions of Colorado. At length,
however, perseverance and unfaltering energy enabled Mr. Best to establish a whole- sale grocery business in Denver, to which he later added a wholesale flour and grain department. When Leadville was founded he did the forwarding for the South Park Railroad, which was building toward the camp, and for many years he remained a most active, prominent and progressive business man of Denver. When seventy years of age, however, he turned his business over to his son. To Captain and Mrs. Best were born five children, but the eldest died soon after the arrival of the family in Denver
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and the youngest, John W., died in Denver in 1899. Two daughters, Mrs. A. B. Speer and Mrs. J. McTerry, and Charles Fred still survive. Prior to the death of Captain Best his wife passed away. She had the reputation of being "one of the prettiest girls and sweetest singers of her day in Bath" and was a member of the Baptist church choir there for many years. She was for forty seven years a most faithful companion and helpmate to her husband, who always attributed much of his success to her sound advice and encouragement.
Charles Fred Best was but two years of age when his parents left their Chicago home and removed to Denver. His early education was acquired in the public schools, after which he went to Boston to become a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His course there was supplemented by a short tour of Europe, after which he returned to Denver and entered his father's business. He was admitted to a part- nership and became an active factor in the management and control of the flour and grain trade, which had become an important feature in the interests of the firm. When his father had reached the allotted Psalmist's span of three score years and ten he turned the business over to his son, who conducted it until his demise, ranking ever with the leading business men of the city. It was in 1908 that he became head of the business, which he reorganized under the firm name of J. B. Best & Company, discon- tinuing the food end and concentrating his efforts and attention upon the grain trade. In this he continued until his demise. Mr. Best was at one time president of the Grain Exchange of Denver. He was also a director of the Chamber of Commerce and coop- erated heartily in all of its well defined plans and movements for the upbuilding of the city and the extension of its trade relations. He was one of the founders of one of the companies of which the Merchants Fire Insurance Company is the successor and rendered valuable assistance in the reorganization, consolidation and development of the new company. His service as a director was continuous from its organization in 1906 until his death.
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