USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume III > Part 97
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109
Politically Mr. Zang follows an independent course and has never been as aspirant for office. He belongs to the Denver Athletic Club, also to the Denver Civic and Com- mercial Association and to the Masonic fraternity, exemplifying in his life the benefi- cent spirit of the craft. His religious faith is that of the Congregatonal church. He is today a well known representative of an old and honored pioneer family, the name of Zang having long figured prominently upon the pages of Colorado's history. His course indeed commends him to the confidence and goodwill of his associates, and those who know of his past record look with interest to his future career.
GEORGE HENRY CHURCH.
A life beautiful in its purity, strong in its purpose, successful in its accom- plishment and noble in principle was ended when George Henry Church was called to his final rest. He had for many years been prominently identified with the agricultural development of Colorado and was the first man to demonstrate the practicability of raising wheat on the uplands and of promoting irrigation projects in the state. The initial step which he thus took was followed by others and the measure of his influence in the reclamation of the arid lands can scarcely be estimated.
Mr. Church was born December 11, 1830, in Rochester, New York, a son of John and Mary (Leonard) Church and a descendant of one of the old New England families founded in America in the early seventeen hundreds by ancestors wlio settled in Hartford, Connecticut, after whom Church square of that city is named. The progenitor of the family in the new world, James Church, had seven sons and four daughters, and each of the sons settled later in a small city and took up large tracts of land, which made them financially independent as the development of the country promoted realty values. John Church and Sidney Church, brothers, were two of these sons. They first took up their abode in Rochester, New York, and Churchly place of that city was named in their honor. They engaged in rope mak- ing, a pursuit which their ancestors through several generations had followed. John Church afterwards located upon a farm in Orleans county, New York, upon which his youngest son, Charles M., now resides.
George Henry Church was educated in the public schools and later became a graduate of the Millville Academy. In 1849, after completing his college course, Vol. 111-46
MRS. SARAH H. CHURCH
GEORGE H. CHURCH
724
HISTORY OF COLORADO
he worked with his father upon the home farm in Orleans county, New York, and when twenty-three years of age he sought the opportunities of the growing west by removing to Iowa, where he purchased large tracts of wild land in Buchanan, Butler and Bremer counties. In 1861 he came to Colorado, crossing the plains by ox train and making his way directly to the mountains. There he bought mines at. Spanish Bar above Idaho Springs and also made large investments in mining property, but he did not fare well through that fall and winter and therefore engaged passage by wagon train to Iowa. In 1862, however, he returned with a herd of cows and calves and settled in Mount Vernon canyon, on what hecame the old Church ranch. In January, 1863, after a short stop in Boulder county he made his way to an uninterrupted range in what is now Jefferson county and there erected a building. Soon afterward the Overland Stage Company made his place one of its stations, it becoming a famous stopping place for travelers over the trail, the first night out of Denver. Later he built a comfortable twelve-room dwelling with numerous lean-tos, and it may be of interest to the reader to add that lumber at that time sold for one hundred and fifty dollars per thousand. Finding that all that was required to make the valley productive was water, he secured the necessary water rights and hegan constructing a ditch from Golden to this place from which ditch soon a sufficient quantity of water was secured. Mr. Church then planted twenty acres to wheat, making a test of growing wheat on the uplands in Colorado. being the first man in the state to do this. His wisdom was justified in the fine crop which he harvested. The ditch which he had huilt the previous year was made to fill a reservoir and this was the first irrigation reservoir in the state. This new departure brought on the enmity of neighbors on Coal creek, from which he drew the water supply. So high ran the feeling that it resulted in threats on his life and it seemed at times that serious trouble would ensue. It hardly seems possible at this day that such a course could be pursued when all acknowledge the value of irrigation to the state and each farmer is seeking the best method of bringing to his land the needed water supply. When the trouble arose Mr. Church bought out those near him and acquired considerable land which afterward became very valuable, due to irrigation. He then engaged in farming on an extensive scale, and his success not only bore him out but the present productive valley stands as a monument to his wise foresight and unflagging energy. He also had numerous head of imported cattle on his place, which he brought from Canada and even as far as New York. He herded his stock upon the range and in 1871 hoth he and his wife won a prize for the hest Hereford cow over five years of age. The valuable souvenirs which they received as prizes have since been made into artistic napkin rings. Mr. Church was also noted for his herd of fine shorthorns, Red Durhams and Roan Durhams and his stock sales took the animals from his ranch to all parts of the country. He was one of the most progressive stockmen of the state, breeding his cattle herds and his horses up to high grade. In 1900 he gave all of his fine horses to his son, Frank, but remained active in the management of his large interests and investments to the time of his death, which occurred on the 7th of January, 1918.
Mr. Church was ever a man who "worked with his head" and he taught his son to follow in his footsteps in this regard. In other words, he carefully considered every transaction and investment and always endeavored to pursue a course that would never make him regret his judgment or his decision. As the years passed on he prospered more and more largely as the result of developing husiness conditions here and he became the president of the First National Bank of Arvada.
On the 24th of April, 1861, in Independence, Iowa, Mr. Church was married to Sarah Henderson Miller, a daughter of Dr. John Miller, who studied medicine in New York and completed his course in Cincinnati. His people were from Holland, the first representative of the name coming soon after the arrival of the Mayflower. The mother of Mrs. Sarah Church hore the maiden name of Mary Lindley . Able, whose ancestors were missionaries in South Africa for seventy-five years. Sarah Henderson ( Miller) Church was born in Tonlon, Stark county, Illinois, October 30, 1838. She attended the public schools and later became a student at an academy in Toulon, finishing the academic course at the age of fifteen years, and the following year hecame a teacher in Iowa, whither she had gone with her parents. She first taught in a private neighborhood-school, which was supported by subscription, and afterwards taught for six years in the public schools of that state. It was while thus engaged, that she met and wedded Mr. Church. Her father, a talented and scholarly man, had graduated in medicine, which he practiced for a time, and also had been admitted to practice at the har, as a member of the legal fraternity. He
725
HISTORY OF COLORADO
located with his family in Toulon, Illinois, and served for many years as judge in the Stark county courts. He donated a tract of fifty acres for public improvements, part of which tract is now occupied by the county courthouse. In 1853, he located near Independence, Iowa, where he acquired large acreage and farmed extensively. Still later he located on a farm near Cedar Rapids, where he spent his remaining years, his death occurring May 13, 1884. He was born in New Jersey, October 8, 1800, of an old established family, his grandfather being the owner of the property at Valley Forge, upon which General Washington and his army camped during that terrible winter when the fate of this nation hung in the balance. Mrs. Miller survived her husband several years, making her home with her children in Colorado, and died at the home of Mrs. Church, May 5, 1900.
By her marriage Mrs. Church became the mother of a son, Frank, who was born on March 13, 1863, and was married on December 28, 1892, to Katherine Jones, a daughter of Albert and Katherine ( Stevens) Jones. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Church have become the parents of three children: Marcus Frank, now in his second year in college; Perry Henry, who is in his second year in high school; and Ruth Catherine, a student in the eighth grade. Frank Church is manager of his father's estate in addition to looking after his own property and is a member of the board of directors of the Commercial State Bank of Denver and also a director of the First National Bank of Arvada. Fraternally he is a Mason and has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. Like his father, he displays splendid business ability and marked enterprise and is carrying forward to successful com- pletion whatever he undertakes.
George H. Church was a man of quiet, simple tastes, devoted to his home and family. He never used tobacco nor intoxicants but lived a pure, upright life that commanded for him the marked respect and confidence of all who knew him. He had splendid traits of heart and mind, the last being manifest in his successful man- agement of his business affairs, while the former found expression in all of his relations with his fellowmen. While he left to his family very valuable realty possessions, he also left to them that good name which is rather to be chosen than great riches.
OSCAR DAVID CASS, M. D.
Dr. Oscar David Cass, while preparing in early manhood for the practice of medi- cine and surgery and winning a substantial measure of success in the profession, afterward turned his attention to business interests in Denver, becoming prominently connected with mining, banking and real estate operations. The extent and importance of his interests made him a central figure on the stage of activity in his adopted city and the influence of his labors is still felt in the life of the community. He was born at Lyman, New Hampshire, on the Connecticut river. August 2, 1823, and his life record covered the intervening period to the 15th of December, 1894, when he passed away in Denver. He was descended from English and Scotch ancestry and the line stretches back unbroken to the thirteenth century. In colonial days the family was planted on American soil and representatives of the name were prominent in shaping the early colonial history of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Although born in New Hampshire, Dr. Oscar David Cass acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Vermont and afterward attended the Fairfield Academy of New York. Determining upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he began studying in Whitesboro, New York, and afterward entered the Vermont Medical College in Castleton, from which he was graduated on the 18th of June, 1845. He then located for practice in Lewis county, New York, and afterward was appointed surgeon on one of the steamships making trips between New Orleans and Panama. After a brief period, however, he took up his abode in California, where he engaged in practice for a number of years and then returned eastward, establishing his home in Muscatine, Iowa. The lure of the west was upon him, however, and in 1859 he went to Leaven- worth, Kansas, while early in the following year he crossed the plains to Denver, where he arrived on the 13th of May. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Colorado and afterward established a small hospital in connection with Dr. Hamil- ton, who later became surgeon of the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers.
While in the far west Dr. Cass had gained a general knowledge of gold dust, its grades and value as a speculative commodity, and he determined to abandon his pro- fession and establish a broker's office in Denver, which he did in a room occupied by
726
HISTORY OF COLORADO
the Hinckley Express Company on Blake street. After a brief period he was joined by his brother, Joseph B. Cass, of Leavenworth, Kansas, and they established a very prof- itable and extensive business, leading to the erection of a building on Sixteenth and Holliday streets, then known as G and MeGaa streets. From that time forward they gave their attention to the regular banking business, buying gold dust which they shipped to Carney & Stephens, Leavenworth bankers, in whose establishment Joseph B. Cass had formerly been cashier. They also engaged in loaning money, on which a very high rate of interest was paid at that day, and in addition to the conduct of their banking and loan business they engaged in freighting with mule trains from the Mis- souri river to the Rocky mountains. They also opened a branch office in Central City, Colorado, and were the agents of the Ben Holliday stage line, but in 1865 they dis- posed of this business and the building which they occupied to Mr. Holliday. The rapid advance in the price of gold dust during the period of the Civil war was a source of great profit to them and each branch of their business prospered as the days passed on. As his financial resources increased Dr. Cass invested more and more largely in Denver real estate and entered into partnership with the late Dr. J. W. Graham, who was the builder of the Cass & Graham block at Sixteenth and Curtis streets. This location was acquired by Dr. Cass in 1860 and is still owned by his family.
Dr. Cass was united in marriage to Miss Emogene M. Babcock, a daughter of Phinneas Babcock, of Brookfield, New York, and to them were born two daughters and a son: Alice, who has passed away; Myra May, the wife of Louis F. Foster, of Gar- dena, California, and Oscar David, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. The death of the husband and father occurred December 15, 1894, and thus Denver lost one of its most highly respected and honored citizens. He had long been prominently and helpfully identified with the business of the west and especially through his real estate investments and operations had contributed much to the upbuilding and prosperity of Denver. Those who knew him, and he had a wide acquaintance, esteemed hin most highly and his name is inseparably connected with the history of the city as one of its earliest bankers and pioneer business men.
NASON HOYT FULLER.
With the development of Stratton and that section of Kit Carson county Nason Hoyt Fuller was closely identified through his farming operations and through general merchandising. He lived a busy, useful, active, clean and honorable life and left to his family the priceless heritage of an untarnished name. He was born in Canada, February 6, 1846, and there pursued his education to the age of sixteen years, when he removed to Piatt county, Illinois. He was quite small when his father died. In early life he began work upon the home farm and with the removal of the family to Illinois he assisted his mother in the farm work. The family numbered six sons and two daughters and Mr. Fuller and his brothers carried on the farm in Piatt county, on which they continued until he had reached the age of twenty-four years. The family then removed to MeDonough county, Illinois, and Nason H. Fuller secured employment in a wood shop in that county, assisting in the building of wagons and in other wood work. He was there employed for three years and it was during that period that he met his wife.
On the 22d of February, 1872, Nason H. Fuller was united in marriage to Miss Angeline Ingram, who was born in Warren county, Illinois, a daughter of George Gregg and Lydia (Majors) Ingram. The father was a stonemason and also a farmer by occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller continued their residence in Illinois until September, 1872, when they removed to Iowa, where they resided for eleven years, Mr. Fuller working at various occupations mostly blacksmithing and farming during that period. He was quite successful and in fact throughout his life made good in almost everything that he undertook, for he was thorough to the minutest detail. He was, moreover, a man of sound judgment and discrimination and his opinions were often sought on points of law.
On the 30th of December, 1875, a son was born to Mr and Mrs. Fuller whom they called Ira D. He married Bertha Arnold and they reside in Vona, where he conducts a general store, He and his wife have two children, Hoyt and Susan. In 1884 Mr. and Mrs. Fuller became the parents of a second child, Manda Iva, who is now the wife of J. W. Borders, manager of the elevator at Stratton, in which he is in partnership with her mother. Mr. and Mrs. Borders have four children, Floyd, Halburt, Hazel and Marion.
NASON H. FULLER
728
HISTORY OF COLORADO
It was in the year 1888 that Mr. and Mrs. Fuller removed with their family to Colorado and homesteaded at Stratton. He there began farming but was not as success- ful as are the farmers of the present day, for at that period many hardships and priva- tions had to be met-conditions, that time and man have obviated. His health became impaired and he later took up his abode in Stratton, where he conducted a general merchandise store for two years. He then sold out and engaged in the cattle business, living on the old homestead. He remained there for thirteen years and made consider- able money but found the work too hard for him and decided to again leave the farm. He and his wife then removed to Burlington, where he took up the carpenter's trade, but after two years in Burlington they returned to Stratton at the request of their children. Mr. Fuller then once more embarked in general merchandising, but a year later his store was destroyed by fire. He was entering the store with a lighted lamp when he suffered an attack with his heart and the lamp fell, breaking and starting the fire. His friends went to the rescue, taking him from the burning building. This time Mr. Fuller sold his farm in order to get ready money with which to resume business and since his death his wife and her daughter and son-in-law have con- ducted the store. Mr. Fuller remained in active business, however, up to the time of his demise, which occurred on the 27th of December, 1917.
Mr. Fuller was a man well versed in mathematics and in law and at all times dis- played sound business judgment in the conduct of his affairs. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity and was a faithful member of the Congregational church. He served for two years as county commissioner of Kit Carson county and was recognized as a valued and progressive citizen. He ever refrained from the use of bad language. never used tobacco or liquor in any form and led a free, honorable, upright life, marked by devotion to the welfare of his wife and family and by marked fidelity to his friends. He thus left to his loved ones an untarnished name as well as a substantial competence. resulting from his years of business activity.
DAVID CAMELIN.
David Camelin is numbered among the pioneer farmers of Sedgwick county, where he has successfully cultivated a valuable property for nearly thirty years. During this period he has hade many valuable improvements and has placed modern facilities upon his farm, from which he derives today a gratifying income, although during the first years in which he occupied the property he had to overcome many unfavorable con- ditions. He was born in Livingston county, Illinois, October 23, 1853, his parents being T. M. and Mary Camelin, the former of whom also followed agricultural pursuits.
David Camelin pursued his education in the common schools, which he attended until he was twenty years of age, devoting the greater part of the year during this time to assisting his father in his work. After that period he remained upon his father's farm until he was twenty-two years of age, when he hired out by the month and so continued for two years. Later he rented land on his own account for two years and cultivated the land to such good purpose that he was able to accumulate a sum sufficiently large to enable him to buy a farm twenty miles distant from the home farm and comprising eighty acres. This was principally devoted to the production of corn and oats and he continued the cultivation of this property for five years, at the end of which time he removed to Chase county, Nebraska, where he bought a tree claim. In 1889. however, he came to Julesburg, proving up on his present homestead. He has made all of the improvements on this place, which is today one of the valuable properties of the neighborhood and stands as the visible evidence of his untiring energy. During the first summer he built a sod house fourteen by twenty-eight feet, in which he lived. Many were the difficulties to be overcome during the first years, but Mr. Camelin bravely faced adversity and at last won out. In 1895, however, lie returned to Illinois on account of hard times but in October. 1896, returned to his home- stead. There he has remained ever since and has gained notable success in the opera- tion of his land. He has installed the most modern machinery upon his place, has put up suitable buildings and in the tillage of the soil follows the most modern methods. Working early and late, he has brought his land under cultivation and today receives rich harvests as the result of his untiring work.
In March, 1882, Mr. Camelin was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Hurst and to them have been born the following children : George F., born in 1883, who is engaged in farming and who married Miss Anna Carlson, by whom he has three chil- dren: Mabel, born in 1885, who married Frank Rauth, a ranchman north of Sterling,
729
HISTORY OF COLORADO
and they have four children; and Florence, born in 1891, who married Roy Mckellips, also an agriculturist, by whom she has two children.
Mr. Camelin has always taken a laudable interest in public affairs and since 1911 has served as justice of the peace, presiding over his court with fairness and impar- tiality. While strict in the application of the law, he often strives to conciliate the contending parties and has made many friends since assuming the office, all of whom recognize his good judgment and defer to his opinions. His political belief is that of the republican party. The family stands high in the community in which they live and have made many friends in Julesburg since taking up their residence here.
ADOLPH FRANK ZANG.
Adolph Frank Zang, prominently identified with mining and kindred interests in Colorado and contributing to the successful conduct of the corporations with which he is identified, makes his home in Denver, where he was born on the 13th of March, 1890. He is a son of Adolph J. and Minnie L. Zang, who are mentioned at length on another page of this work. His primary education was acquired in the Emerson gram- mar school of Denver, after which he spent three years as a student in the manual training high school. He next entered the Cascadilla Preparatory School at Ithaca, New York, from which he was graduated, and then matriculated in Cornell University at Ithaca, where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1913.
Mr. Zang made his initial step in the business world in connection with the bond department of the American Bank & Trust Company of Denver. He was also employed for a brief period in the banking department of that institution, but soon afterward became confidential secretary of the late Adolph J. Zang. In the early part of 1916 he was chosen a director of the Vindicator Consolidated Gold Mining Company, operat- ing large mining properties in the Cripple Creek district. When the property of the Cresson Consolidated Gold Mining & Milling Company was purchased by Colorado capital he became secretary of that company and several months later succeeded Adolph J. Zang as a director. In October, 1916, he was elected to the vice presidency of the Vindicator Consolidated Mining & Milling Company and he has extended his efforts into various other fields, being identified with a number of important corporate inter- ests. He is the treasurer, a director and one of the founders of the Ferro-Alloy Com- pany, an electro-metallurgical company producing alloys of the rare metals and operating at Utah Junction, Colorado. He is likewise the treasurer and a director of The Rare Metals Ore Company, operating mines and mills at Rollinsville, Colorado, for the pro- tection of tungsten ores. He became one of the founders and the secretary of the Adolph J. Zang Investment Company, is the treasurer and a director of the Eagle Ore Company, operating ore sampling works in the Cripple Creek district, and he has also managed the farms and done much toward the development of the farming properties belonging to the estate of Adolph J. Zang, located at Broomfield and Watkins, Colorado. He is also treasurer of The Zang Realty & Investment Company. In a word, he is a very resourceful and forceful business man, strong in his ability to plan and perform and equally strong in his honor and good name.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.