USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume IV > Part 14
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In 1874, while on a lecture tour, he received the curt information that he had been elected superintendent of the Denver schools at a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars a year. "Kindly wire acceptance" was the laconic conclusion of the message. He wired that he would "look them over" and incidentally they might "look him over." Not yet sure that he could get his release from Normal, he made his way to Denver and found the town was just recovering from a hitter school board quarrel.
On his arrival members of the board kept in close touch with him, hoping that the story of the quarrel would not reach his ears. But Roger W. Woodbury, then publisher of the Times, also a native New Hampshire boy, finally getting to him, said: "Mr. Gove, I'm mighty sorry for you. You're undertaking an impossible job." That night, at twelve o'clock, Mr. Woodbury put the file of the Times under Mr. Gove's eyes, so that he might learn the entire story of the fight which was still in the air. But there was enough fighting blood in Mr. Gove to make him feel that the "impossible job" was worth while. He went back to Normal and asked for a release. He was told that he could not be spared that year, but he secured his release. In 1874, therefore, he assumed his position under the law creating the East Denver school district.
Mr. Gove found the district in debt for seventy-five thousand dollars and its fifteen year bonds drawing twelve per cent. interest in the hands of New England banks. His first attempt in financing, failed of success. Though the legislature, at his suggestion, passed a law permitting refunding of school bonds, his offer under the law to the New England banks to substitute thirty-year six per cent. bonds for their twelve per cent. holdings failed to persuade his fellow Yankees. But during his entire term of office, there was but a single further instance of a bond issue to meet a school debt. This was after congress had given the school district the present East Denver high school site, compelling the erection of a school building within a year. There was local opposition to the law and it took two terms of congress to get it through. It was asserted that the people didn't want the site, but Superintendent Gove, then in Washington, telegraphed to Robert W. Steele, later chief justice, to send him a petition favoring the measure. It took the active young attorney less than a week to find a thousand people who wanted that block of ground. Senators Jerome B. Chaffee and Henry M. Teller saved the day on the last day of the session. Senator Morrill of Vermont fought hard to defeat it. Dr. Bancroft, battling for Jarvis Hall and Judge France, believing that the property should be a park and not a school house site, also lost out. The bond issue provided for the west wing. In seven years the entire building was completed and when the last nail was driven there was not a penny of indebtedness on the structure.
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When Aaron Gove came to Denver, his first great fight was to establish the high school grades in the district. Here he demonstrated, at the very outset of his local career, his capacity for diplomacy. He was a shrewd observer of men, his power in that direction being above even his rare skill as a schoolmaster and as a manager. There were four elements opposed to his effort to establish high school grades. The Methodists were, generally speaking, against the plan. They had just secured a charter for what is now the University of Denver, but Governor John Evans, who had been with him at teachers' institutes in Illinois, promised Mr. Gove his support and he kept his word. Mr. Gove once said: "My reliance was Governor John Evans. When he promised me that my public high school should not be antagonized, I knew he meant what he said." He was also opposed by the Episcopalians, who were building up Jarvis Hall, but stanch friends in that denomination also stood by him. The Catholics also fought him, but there too he was able to find many broad-minded men who, while they did not wish openly to assist him, saw to it that the antagonism was not continued. There were in the community many southerners who had come from sections where the free common school had never been planted. These, too, he won over; and so at last he established his high school in the third floor of the school building on the site of what is now the Club building.
He had with him for twenty years the best men in the community as members of his school board. In those years Fred Steinhauer. E. M. Ashley, Peter Gottesleben, L. C. Ellsworth, Dr. Stedman, K. G. Cooper, George W. Kassler, C. S. Morey and Governor Grant were wise enough to appreciate the services of a great educational expert and gave lavishly of their time and ability in the public service. There was no contention. Progress was rapid and the great school system which ranks among the finest in the nation was established on a firm and sound foundation.
When in 1904 Mr. Gove gave up his school work, he became identified with the great sugar industry of Colorado. Here again, his remarkable mind quickly assimilated what was necessary in those years to successfully maintain that most important enter- prise. Documents prepared by him for legislative reference have been pronounced among the ablest presented at congressional hearings.
Mr. Gove was born in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September 26, 1839, the son of John Francis and Sarah Jane (Wadleigh) Gove. He was graduated from the Illinois Normal University in 1861. Then began his military career. He entered the service of the United States as a private of Company B, Thirty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, September 18, 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant on the 26th of September. He became first lieutenant and adjutant on the 6th of September, 1862, and was mustered in as adjutant on the 12th of December of that year. The regiment was organized at Camp Butler, Illinois, moved to Ironton, Missouri, September 20. 1861, and was on duty there until March, 1862. It was sent in the expedition to Fredericktown, Missouri, from the 12th to the 25th of October, 1861, and participated in a skirmish at Big River Bridge, near Potosi on the 15th of that month. It was also in action at Fredericktown on the 21st of October. From March until May, 1862, the regiment was attached to the Second Brigade of the Army of Southeast Missouri and then to the First Brigade of the First Division of the Army of Southwest Missouri, Department of Missouri, until July, 1862. It was next at Helena, Arkansas, in the District of Eastern Arkansas, Department of Missouri, until October, 1862, and afterward with Harris' Brigade, Benton's Division, Davidson's Army of Southeast Missouri, until January, 1863. Its next assignment was to the First Brigade, First Division, District of St. Louis, Missouri, Department of Missouri, until March, 1863, and to the First Brigade, Fourteenth Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, until July of the same year. Its next assign- ment was to the First Brigade, First Division, Thirteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Tennessee until August, 1863, and afterward to the Army of the Gulf until April, 1864.
The record of his service has been given in official documents as follows: "Moved to Reeve's Station, Missouri, March 3, 1862. Steele's expedition to White River, Arkan- sas, March 23-May 10. March to Batesville, Arkansas, thence to Helena, Arkansas, May 25-July 14. Action at Hill's Plantation, Cache River, July 7. Duty at and near Helena till September 1, participating in numerous expeditions. Ordered to Sulphur Springs, September 1, Friar's Point, September 28. Moved to Pilot Knob, Missouri, thence moved to Van Buren, Arkansas, November 15. Campaign through southeast Missouri, Decem- ber 1862, to March 1863. Ordered to Ste. Genevieve, March 5, thence to Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, and duty there till April 25. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf, April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson, May 1. Fourteen-Mile Creek, May 12. Battle of Champion's Hill, May 16. Big Black River Bridge, May 17. Siege of Vicksburg,
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Mississippi, May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg, May 19 and 22. Hill's Plantation, June 22. Surrender of Vicksburg, July 4. Advance on Jackson, Mississippi, July 5-10. Big Black River July 5. Siege of Jackson, Mississippi, July 10-17. Duty at Vicksburg till August 20. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, August 20. Duty at Carrollton, Brashear City and Berwick till October. Western Louisiana campaign, October 3 to November 10. Served detached as aide-de-camp on staff of General C. C. Washburn, commanding First Division, Eighteenth Corps, October and November, 1863, and as division ordnance officer on staff of General N. J. T. Daua, January to April, 1864. Ex- pedition to New Iberia, Louisiana, October 3-6, 1863, and to Vermillion Bayou, October 8-30. Ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, November 10, thence to Texas, November 12. Capture of Mustang Island, Matagorda Bay, November 17. Fort Esperanza, November 27-30. Duty at Indianola and Lavacca, Texas, till March, 1864. On veteran leave March and April. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, April 18-29, thence to Brashear City, May 17, and duty in District of La Fourche till June. Resigned June 18, 1864, and honorably discharged from service on the strength of a surgeon's certificate. Brevetted captain and major, United States Volunteers, March 13, 1865, 'For gallant and meritori- ous services during the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi.' "
Nature seems to have designed Mr. Gove for the educational field and the school system of Denver stands as a monument to his ability and efficiency. Impossible as it is for most men sixty-five years of age to make a change in their life work, Mr. Gove accomplished this and became a successful factor in connection with the development of the sugar industry of the west.
Mr. Gove was married February 13, 1865, to Caroline Spofford of North Andover, Massachusetts. She died in Denver, September 29, 1916. There were four children of this marriage, Frank E. Gove, Aaron M. Gove, Mrs. Henry Hanington and Mrs. John G. McMurtry, all of Denver. In politics Mr. Gove is a republican. He has been commander of the Loyal Legion, is a thirty-third degree Mason and was for three years grand commander of the Knights Templar of Colorado. Dartmouth College in 1878 conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts and in 1888 he received from the University of Colorado the degree of LL. D. He is a member of the Denver Club and the University Club. Now at the age of seventy-nine years, without invidious distinction, he may be characterized as one of the foremost and honored residents of Denver.
RAYMOND H. TURVER.
Raymond H. Turver, of Denver, who is general sales agent for the Pacific Coast Shredded Wheat Company, has in large measure that quality which has been termed commercial sense, but which when analyzed is found to be composed of close applica- tion, keen sagacity, thorough study of tasks and the capability of reading and under- standing the men with whom one deals. Possessing all these requisites of successful salesmanship, Raymond H. Turver has made for himself a creditable position in busi- ness circles. He was born in Niagara Falls, New York, October 16, 1880, a son of Charles Henry Turver, who was a native of England and came to America at the age of eight years, being apprenticed to a family crossing the Atlantic. Their home was established in southern Wisconsin and there he was reared and educated.
Charles H. Turver served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's and builder's trade, which he followed successfully throughout the remainder of his life. In 1874 he became a resident of Rochester, New York, which was his home until 1879, in which year he removed to Suspension Bridge, now Niagara Falls, where he was engaged in busi- ness as a general contractor to the time of his death, which occurred November 28, 1910, at the age of sixty-two years. He was active in civic matters and greatly inter- ested in labor problems and conditions bearing thereon. He was a prime factor in promoting a bill presented before congress to regulate the importation of Canadian labor, opposing the course of employing Canadians who resided in their own country but earned their living across the American border. He was also a champion of various other measures which he believed would benefit labor and business conditions in this country. In politics he was an ardent republican but was never an aspirant for office. He married Stella Harroun, who was born at Niagara Falls and is a direct descendant of John Quincy Adams and John Adams, two of the presidents of the United States, and of Captain Abner Adams, who commanded a company in the Revolutionary war and had charge of a line of forts and communications between Albany, New York, and the Niagara frontier. Mrs. Turver is still a resident of Niagara Falls. By her marriage she became the mother of four children, two of whom have passed away, while those
RAYMOND H. TURVER
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still living are Raymond H. and Charles Henry, the latter a resident of Lewiston, New York.
Spending his youthful days in the place of his nativity, Raymond H. Turver acquired his education in attendance at the public and high schools there to the age of eighteen years and then started out to earn his own livelihood. He first served an apprentice- ship with the Erie Railroad Company at Niagara Falls as a telegrapher, remaining there for eighteen months. He was afterward with the New York Central as telegraph operator and billing clerk, which position he continued to fill until the fall of 1902, when he entered the employ of the Shredded Wheat Company, accepting the position of clerk in the filing department. After two months' service he was advanced to the sales department, being placed in a clerical position, and there he continued for six months. Being desirous of learning the business in all of its phases and departments, he was transferred to the branch office at Toronto, Ontario, as office assistant and sales- man and remained in that city for two years. He then returned to the home office at Niagara Falls as assistant in the sales department, occupying the position until 1908, when he was promoted to general sales agent of the office at Minneapolis, Minne- sota, where he successfully and creditably managed the business for the company for three years. He was then placed in charge of the Denver office, arriving in this city on the 28th of December, 1911. In the intervening years he has developed the business to a large extent, greatly increasing the trade through his territory, which embraces Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. Throughout practically his entire business career he has been connected with the Shredded Wheat Company-a fact which is indicative of his marked ability, trustworthiness and indefatigable energy. Step by step he has advanced from a humble position, acquainting himself with every phase of the work that has come under his direction, and today as sales manager for this district he is controlling a trade of large and growing proportions.
On the 24th of November, 1904, at Niagara Falls, Mr. Turver was married to Miss Maude E. Cannon, a native of that place and a daughter of William E. and Elizabeth (Vogt) Cannon, the former now deceased, while the latter is still living. They belonged to old and well known families of Niagara Falls. Mr. Turver's military experience covers eight years' service as a member of the Third Regiment of the New York National Guard at Niagara, with which he served as a non-commissioned officer. He is an active member of the Warren Methodist Episcopal church and has been a worker in the Sunday school, having formerly served as secretary. He belongs to the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and is helpfully interested in all those things which have to do with the upbuilding of the city. He also has membership in the Denver Motor Club and the Kiwanis Club, serving as chairman of the membership committee in the latter. He is likewise an officer in Arapahoe Lodge, No. 130, A. F. & A. M., and in the Scottish Rite bodies, attaining the thirty-second degree in Colorado Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R., on the 8th of April, 1915. He is likewise a past councilor of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. His has been an active and useful career, charac- terized by progressiveness and marked devotion to duty whether in business life, in social connections or in citizenship.
HON. JAMES PHILIP MAXWELL.
Hon. James Philip Maxwell, of whom it is said he has never had a superior as pre- siding officer in the state senate, has at various times been called upon for public service although usually it has not partaken of a political nature, and the record of none has been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct or stainless in reputation. Mr. Maxwell was born upon a farm in Walworth county, Wisconsin, on the 20th of June, 1839, and is a son of James A. and Susan (Vreland) Maxwell. The father was born in the Empire state in 1814 and passed away in 1892, having long survived his wife, who died in 1852.
When James Philip Maxwell was seven years of age his parents removed to Bara- boo, Wisconsin, and there he attended the public schools, remaining a resident of that city until he reached the age of twenty. His early educational privileges were sup- plemented by a course in the Lawrence University of Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1859. He left his native state in the spring of 1860, well qualified for life's practical and responsible duties, and with a strong will to succeed, sustained by the stimulating knowledge of having back of him an honorable ancestry, while his home training was such as developed admirable traits of character. His grandfather, Colonel James Maxwell, had been a pioneer of Wal-
HON. JAMES P. MAXWELL
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worth county, Wisconsin, had been chosen to represent his district in the territorial legislature and had served with distinction as a colonel in the Wisconsin State Militia. His father, James A. Maxwell, was a merchant and landowner, who exerted consider- able influence in shaping public thought and action in Walworth and in Sauk counties of Wisconsin. In 1860 he removed westward to Colorado and engaged in the sawmill business at Boulder. He assisted in the construction of a wagon road known as the Boulder and Blackhawk road and operated it for several years. He was not only identified with the material development of his locality but with its moral progress as well. He was one of the organizers of the Methodist Episcopal church at Boulder and continued as an active and helpful member and generous supporter thereof until his demise.
James P. Maxwell was the eldest of a family of six children and was in his four- teenth year at the time of his mother's death. His youthful experiences were those of the farmbred boy but his ideas of life were broadened by contact with the world as he went out to further his education as a student in the Lawrence University at Ap- pleton. He pursued a classical course and won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1859. In 1860 he joined his father in Omaha, Nebraska, and then traveled across the plains with horses to Denver, where he arrived on the 10th of June after having spent six weeks en route. He made his way to Central City, afterward to Nevadaville and to Lump Gulch, where he became identified with placer mining. In the year of his arrival he was elected sheriff of the Gold Dirt District and occupied that position for one year, subsequent to which time his attention was given to lode-mining in Leavenworth Gulch. In 1863, however, he entered into part- nership with his brother-in-law, Captain C. M. Tyler, in the conduct of a lumberyard on South Boulder creek, where they erected a mill and manufactured lumber, for which they found a market in Central City, Blackhawk and Cheyenne. Mr. Maxwell also became the associate of his father in the operation of a sawmill at the mouth of Four Mile creek and in 1867 removed from South Boulder to Four Mile, but in 1870 became a resident of Boulder. He was thus actively associated with the pioneer de- velopment of the section in which he lived, becoming identified with the initial busi- ness enterprises and taking an active interest in promoting progress along various lines.
The personal worth and the marked business and executive ability of Mr. Max- well caused him to be selected at various times for important public positions. He served as deputy United States mineral and land surveyor through appointment of the United States surveyor general of Colorado and in later years has given much time to survey work of that character, thereby acquiring a very thorough knowledge of the geography and resources of the state. Having taken up his abode in Boulder, he was chosen in 1872 to represent his district in the territorial legislature and the value of his service in that connection was demonstrated in his reelection two years later. In 1876, following the admission of Colorado into the Union, he became a mem- ber of the first state senate and served as president pro tem during the session of 1879 and, according to a contemporary biographer, "presided over that body with dis- tinguished ability. He was thoroughly conversant with the rules and with parliamen- tary practice. His decisions were prompt, just and impartial, his bearing forceful, dignified and admirable and the general assembly from first to last has had no su- perior presiding officer." In 1878 Mr. Maxwell was elected mayor of Boulder and served as chief executive of the city until 1880, when he resigned, after which he filled the office of county treasurer for two years. From 1882 until 1888 Mr. Maxwell engaged in government surveying in western Colorado and in the latter year was made state engineer under appointment of Governor Cooper and was continued in that position until 1893 by Governor Routt. In 1896 he was again elected to represent his district in the state senate and in the eleventh session was chosen president pro tem. Private business interests had occupied his attention in the interval prior to 1899, at which time he was appointed city engineer of Boulder and was regularly elected to the office in 1900. For about thirty years he continued active in surveying and min- ing engineering and in 1911 he entered the First National Bank of Boulder as a di- rector and vice president and in 1912 was elected to the presidency, which position he still fills. There are many tangible evidences of his public spirit, his devotion to duty and to the welfare of the state which may be cited. He assisted in obtaining an appropriation for the State University and while state engineer he had charge of irrigation, reservoirs, hridge huilding and roads throughout the state of Colorado.
At different times Mr. Maxwell has directed his efforts into various fields. He has engaged quite extensively in the cattle business and he was president of the Silver Lake Ditch Company which in 1888 hegan the construction of the highest
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irrigation ditch in the country from Boulder canyon. He was instrumental in hav- ing Silver lake stocked with fish and he became the president of the Steamboat Springs Company, which laid out Steamboat Springs in Routt county. He also laid out Maxwell's addition to Boulder, consisting of fifteen acres, and he became the owner of the Maxwell block in Boulder.
On the 23d of January, 1863, in Gilpin county, Colorado, Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage to Miss Francelia O. Smith, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of N. K. Smith, who came to Colorado in pioneer times and passed away in Boulder in 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell became the parents of three sons and two daughters: Clint J .; Mark N .; Heleu F., who died in January, 1899, at the age of thirty years; Maria O., who became the wife of Charles R. Burger, who occupies the chair of mathematics in the School of Mines at Golden, Colorado; and Ray, who died in 1897 at the age of nineteen years.
In politics Mr. Maxwell has always been a republican. Fraternally he is well known as a Mason, having taken the degrees of the Scottish Rite and he belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He was elected grand commander of the Colorado Grand Comman- dery of Knights Templar and various other official honors have been conferred upon him in his Masonic connections. He is likewise a member of the Denver Society and the American Society of Civil Engineers. His career has been one of eminent useful- ness and honor. None has ever questioned the integrity of his motives and seldom has the correctness of his position been doubted. He has labored earnestly and persis- tently for the right as he has seen it and his work in behalf of the state, its develop- ment, its upbuilding and its welfare, has been most earnest and effective.
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