USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume IV > Part 29
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Mr. McKee was born in Prescott, Wisconsin, June 4, 1856. a son of John and Mary E. (Vasminder) McKee, both of whom were natives of Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, whence they removed westward to Wisconsin in 1852. There the father engaged in the book and stationery business until 1869, when he removed to Bloomington, Illinois, where he carried on business in the field of insurance until his death in 1872. His wife died at Bloomington in 1903. They had a family of five children, namely: J. H., of this review; James A., who has passed away; Maggie, who is also deceased; W. I., who is engaged in the wholesale lumber business at Quincy, Illinois; and Frank W., who is a prominent figure in musical circles of New York city, being the well known composer of many popular songs and instrumental pieces, and is now called by leading musical journals "the Waltz King."
At the usual age J. H. McKee became a pupil in the public schools of Prescott, Wisconsin, and afterward spent a year as a student in the ward school at Bloomington, Illinois. Upon his father's death there devolved upon him the responsibility of sup- porting his mother and the younger brothers and sister. He then engaged in the book and notion business until his twenty-first year. During this time he took a great interest in athletics, especially running and walking, he having covered one hundred yards sixteen different times in ten seconds flat, also walked one mile in seven minutes and twenty-six seconds, which was within twenty-eight seconds of the world's record at that time. He decided to become a traveling salesman and went upon the road as a representative of a cigar and tobacco house. He won success as "a knight of the grip," building up a large trade for the company which he represented. He con- tinued upon the road for thirteen years and then in 1890 came to Denver. Here he
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was appointed register of the land office under the administration of President Ben- jamin Harrison and located at Hugo, Colorado, opening the office at that place. He occupied the position for four years and while so engaged he was also state agent for the Manhattan Life Insurance Company. A change in politics left him out of office and in 1894 he returned to Denver, where he later became engaged in the bicycle business, in which he continued only one year. He afterward was associated with Williams, Wood & Company, wholesale grocers, in the capacity of buyer and manager of the cigar department and remained in that connection for two years, when they discontinued business. He subsequently entered the mercantile brokerage business, handling belts, belt dressing paint and other commodities, and conducted a successful business of that character until 1900. He then sold out and went on the road, selling calendars and advertising novelties on commission. In 1906 he formed a partnership with G. E. Slack in the manufacture of calendars and advertising novelties. In their manufacturing and jobbing interests the firm has risen to prominence and are now conducting one of the largest business enterprises of the kind in the west. Their trade covers the five states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona and the business is steadily increasing. They have ever recognized the fact that sat- isfied patrons are the best advertisement and their earnest desire to please their cus- tomers has been a salient feature in the growth of their trade.
On the 6th of September, 1883, Mr. McKee was married at Lexington, Illinois, to Miss Nora Preble, a daughter of Chester and Louise Preble. They now have one child, George Lloyd McKee. born in Bloomington, Illinois, in 1890. He was edu- cated in Denver and married Miss Nellie Bowles, of Littleton, Colorado. He is now engaged in farming.
Mr. McKee belongs to the Civic and Commercial Association, the Advertising Club and the United Commercial Travelers Association. In politics he maintains an inde- pendent course, voting according to the dictates of his judgment with little regard for party ties. He has worked his way upward entirely unassisted and is a self-made man who as the architect of his fortunes has builded wisely and well. He started out in the world with a cash capital of but twelve dollars and a half and today he ranks with the representative manufacturers of his adopted city.
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON CRANMER.
William Henry Harrison Cranmer, who for many years was actively, prominently and successfully identified with the cattle industry in Colorado and whose enterprise yet finds tangible evidence in the Ernest & Cranmer building of Denver, was born in Cooper county, Missouri, in 1841, his parents having removed from Tennessee to Missouri, at which time they took up their abode in Warrensburg. The mother died when her son William was but thirteen years of age. He attended school in his native county and with his twin brother, Thomas, served in the Confederate army, participat- ing in the campaigns in Missouri and Kansas and making a gallant record. When the war was over he went to Texas, where he engaged in the cattle business and there became acquainted with John Hittson, for whom he worked as foreman for ten years.
Mr. Cranmer's residence in Colorado dated from 1869, although he had previously visited the state in connection with his employer's cattle interests. In that year, how- ever, he embarked in the cattle business on his own account, becoming a partner of Wil- liam Hittson, brother of John Hittson, in the purchase of the Three Circle ranch in Elbert county. After the marriage of his partner Mr. Cranmer bought his interest in the business and thus established an extensive cattle business which proved his lifelong occupation and brought him substantial wealth. He also engaged in the real estate business to some extent, investing his profits from the cattle industry in property. He was also associated with Finis P. Ernest in the erection of the Ernest & Cran- mer building of Denver, which still stands as a substantial monument to the enterprise and progressiveness of the builders.
On the 22d of December. 1874, Mr. Cranmer was united in marriage at the White ranch, the home of the bride, then in Arapahoe county, to Miss Martha J. Hittson, born in Palo Pinto county, Texas, a daughter of his former employer, and they became the parents of seven children. Jessie May, the eldest, is the wife of William P. McPhee, of Denver, and they have three children: William Cranmer, Jolin Raymond and Willamain Cranmer. Jennie Leontine became the wife of William C. Russell, a mining man, and has one son, William C., Jr. William Henry Harrison, Jr., married Margaret Wood and is the father of two sons, William H. H. (III) and Robert Lorin. W. H. H. Cranmer, Jr.,
MARTHA J. CRANMER
WILLIAM H. H. CRANMER
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is now captain of Battery B, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment of the First Artillery, and is serving in France. George Ernest, now at camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, married Jean Chappell, daughter of the late Delos Chappell, of Denver, and has four children: Allen, Forest, Silvia and Chappell. Norma died at the age of nine months. Catherine H. formerly resided in New York city, is now at a government school in Portland, Oregon, taking a course in physiotherapy preparing for government service. Willamain H. is the wife of Grover Coors, of Golden, Colorado.
The family circle was broken by the hand of death when on the 2d of December, 1890, the husband and father was called to his final rest. He was a man devoted to the welfare and happiness of his family and found his greatest pleasure in promoting their best interests. As a business man he ranked among the prominent representatives of the cattle industry in Colorado, his interests being most carefully and intelligently directed. He was one of those who helped to build up the great cattle interests of the state and at all times he stood for progress and improvement in public affairs, the sterling worth of his character and the integrity of his activities bringing him the highest respect of all with whom he came in contact.
MRS. MARTHA J. CRANMER.
It is a matter of history that Colorado was one of the first states in the union to adopt woman suffrage; it is further a matter of history that suffrage has been success- ful here, a condition induced in great measure by the character of the women concerned. Governmental powers were accepted by them with moderation instead of radicalism, even as these powers had been sought by feminine wisdom and tact instead of mili- tancy. It is with one of these women that this sketch has to do, to treat of her character and work which in so many ways is typical of the warm-hearted and strong woman of the west.
Martha J. Cranmer was born in Palo Pinto county, Texas, on October 30, 1857, a daughter of John Hittson, mentioned elsewhere in this work. She was' reared in a home noted for its hospitality, where the latch-string was always out to the traveler across the plains, and warm food and rest awaited him. In this atmosphere she ac- quired the traits which have guided her in after-years in the management of her own home and in her other associations. At an early age she was chosen by her father to accompany him to Colorado and from that time until his death she was his constant companion, business advisor and his inspiration. Here in the shadow of the Rockies she married William H. H. Cranmer, whose career is set forth at length on other pages, giving him her devotion and comradeship until his death, when she was left with a family of children, the oldest of whom was fifteen. These she reared to man- hood and womanhood as she herself had been taught, and has been rewarded by seeing them joined by marriage to the best families of the middle west. Not only did Mrs. Cranmer accomplish the task of maintaining her home, but found the opportunity to indulge her desires and energy in other activities, social, political, philanthropic and charitable.
Of democratic affiliation. Mrs. Cranmer's most notable position in political life is that of membership upon the state board of pardons, to which position she was first appointed by Governor Ammons. Her most recent appointment to this board was by Governor Gunter in December, 1918. Mrs. Cranmer has also been a member for four years of the state central committee and has taken leading part in the various state conventions, also participating as a member of numerous committees.
In her charitable work Mrs. Cranmer found opportunity, when the United States entered the World war, to be of inestimable benefit to the boys who were enlisting and who came to Denver before departing for the training camps. She made almost daily trips to Fort Logan, carrying delicacies and clothing for the soldiers who were ill, even going into the wards and giving to them the kind attentions which only a loving mother's heart knows. Those in the ranks and upon the staffs, also those of civilian life who knew of her work, regarded her with profound respect and affection which was expressed in many ways. In the campaigns for the Liberty loans, in the Red Cross drives, and in all the other activities connected with the war, Mrs. Cranmer took a leading part in addition to contributing a large share of the material benefits.
In other charitable enterprises Mrs. Cranmer has also been prominent, being vice president of the Sands House Association, and chairman of the house committee of this organization. In these different phases of her work, social, political, civic, Mrs. Cranmer has borne herself with that quiet, domestic dignity which is the criterion of
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sterling womanhood, the quality of which cannot be mistaken. She has accomplished material results through her energy, courage and enjoyment of the work in hand, the simple pleasure of seeing the light of gratitude in another's eyes being sufficient pay in her estimation.
Mrs. Cranmer, though unostentatious in her social life, holds membership in many of the clubs of the city, among them being the Territorial Daughters of Colorado, the Woman's Press Club, the Daughters of the Confederacy, the Jane Jeffersons, the National Suffrage Association, the East Side Woman's Club of Denver, the Old Ladies' Home, Radiant Chapter of the Eastern Star. the S. O. O. B. Lodge, and the Society of The Nearest Kin Overseas.
CHARLES W. SAVERY.
Among the leading security investment brokers who have forged their way to the front is Charles W. Savery, now one of the prosperous representatives of this line of activity in Denver. Prior to his removal to this city he was engaged in the brokerage business in Philadelphia but while there lost nearly his entire fortune and after paying off his debts he came to Denver to start anew with a cash capital of less than six hundred dollars. In the intervening years he has become one of the most prosperous security investment brokers of the city, due to his good judg- ment and honorable business methods.
Mr. Savery was born in Philadelphia, November 15, 1878, a son of Stephen and Susan (Forsythe) Savery, who were also natives of the Keystone state, where they spent their entire lives, the father there engaging in farming. Their family numbered six children, of whom Charles W. Savery was the second. He attended the West Town school and also a Quaker boarding school of his native city, from which he was graduated at the age of seventeen years. He was afterward em- ployed in various ways and for a time devoted his attention to the lumber trade, while subsequently he secured a position in connection with the brokerage business, spending six years in that way in the east. In 1908, following heavy losses in Phila- delphia, he came to Denver and with a very limited capital embarked in the broker- age business here. In 1910 he incorporated his interests and has since heen presi- dent of the C. W. Savery Securities Company, handling all kinds of high grade securities. He also organized the Fifty-Fifty Food Growers' Association, which has nine hundred and sixty acres of valuable land on Boulevard F, ten miles from Denver, and he was one of the organizers of the Apex Refining Company, which has filling stations at various places. Mr. Sachs and Mr. Savery constitute the executive board, having entire charge. The Fifty-Fifty Food Growers' Association operates two ranches, one of one hundred and sixty acres, fifteen miles from Denver, and the other of eight hundred acres, situated but ten miles from Denver. This property is equipped for the raising of hogs on an extensive scale. The company was formed by C. W. Savery and A. B. Kamp and with them they associated W. H. Savery, who is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State College of the department of animal hus- bandry. They established the business of raising hogs in December, 1916, with seventy-five brood sows and two pedigreed boars. These have multiplied until they now have about thirteen hundred standard Duroc hogs on their ranches and have sold hogs for pork to the value of sixteen thousand dollars. Substantial buildings have been erected upon the ranches for the shelter of the hogs and the equipment of the place includes an alfalfa grinder with auto truck and all modern machinery. A farm tractor is used to operate the threshing machine in the cutting and binding of the wheat and both machines are owned by the company. One of the ranches is supplied with water from the Bull irrigation canal and the eight hundred acre ranch has upon it the Farmers' High Line ditch. The business of the company is rapidly developing and has already become a profitable investment.
On the 16th of June, 1906, Mr. Savery was married to Miss Frances Darlington, of Denver, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Darlington, and they have become the parents of three children. Robert S., born in Philadelphia in 1907, is now attend- ing school in Denver. Stewart, born in Denver, October 7, 1911, is likewise in school. Jean, born February 4, 1914, completes the family.
In politics Mr. Savery maintains an independent course. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and that he has attained high rank therein is shown in the fact that he is now a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Denver Ath- letic Club. He has worked his way upward entirely through his own efforts and
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is regarded as one of the prominent brokers of Denver. His advanced ideas and pro- gressive methods are a forceful element in the attainment of his growing success.
WILLIAM H. FERGUSON.
William H. Ferguson, attorney at law, practicing in Denver as a member of the firm of Smith, Brock & Ferguson, was born January 9, 1884, in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, a son of William C. and Annie (McKnight) Ferguson.
William H. Ferguson, the youngest of a family of six children, was educated in the public and high schools of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was graduated, magna cum laude, from Washington and Jefferson College in 1905 with the Bachelor of Arts degree, being the honor man of his class. He completed his law course at the University of Denver in 1908, receiving an LL. B. degree. He then began the practice of law in Denver. He was associated with the firm of Smith and Brock from 1909 to 1912 and in the latter year became a member of this firm which at that time adopted the firm name of Smith, Brock & Ferguson. In 1910, he was offered and accepted a place on the faculty of the law school of the University of Denver and has since continued to lecture there on different subjects.
On January 26, 1915, Mr. Ferguson was married to Miss Janet Goetzen, a native of Colorado. They reside at 163 Lafayette street, Denver.
He belongs to Delta Tau Delta, Phi Delta Phi, the University Club, where for several years he has served as a director, Denver Country Club, Denver Motor Club, and Denver Civic and Commercial Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado State Bar Association and the Denver Bar Association.
His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church and in politics he is a re- publican.
The firm of Smith, Brock & Ferguson, of which he is a member, is counsel for the Bell telephone companies in the mountain states, the Continental Oil Company and associated companies, Chicago Title and Trust Company, the Farmers Reservoir and Irrigation Company, the Burlington Ditch, Reservoir and Land Company, the receiver of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad Company, several insurance companies and other corporations and individuals and Mr. Ferguson's entire time and energy have been devoted to his professional duties. Both in the trial and argument of cases and in the various duties and responsibilities connected with a large and important office practice, Mr. Ferguson is recognized as one of the leading members of the Denver bar.
THOMAS L. PHILLIPS.
Thomas L. Phillips has contributed much to the development of Elbert county through the establishment of the town of Elizabeth, which he laid out and which has become the leading railroad center of the county. He is engaged in ranching and is accounted one of the valued and representative citizens of the community. He was born upon a farm in Delaware on the 18th of February, 1844, and comes of good old Revolutionary stock in both the paternal and maternal lines. The family removed from Delaware to Illinois during the boyhood of Thomas L. Phillips, who was there reared and attended the public schools. It was in 1865, when twenty-one years of age, that he left the middle west and came to Colorado, taking up a homestead in Elbert county, a part of which is still a portion of the Phillips holdings of four hundred and twenty acres near the town of Elizabeth. In the early days he worked in a sawmill and as a cow puncher for Webher Brothers and he became familiar with all of the experiences, the hardships, the privations and the opportunities of those pioneer times. He recalls the Indian scares but was never in an actual fight with the red men. He remembers, however, that for some years he stacked grain with a loaded rifle near at hand ready for business. As the years have passed on he has witnessed many changes in conditions of life and in methods of farming. He has seen the rich, wild and undeveloped district into which he penetrated reclaimed for the purposes of civili- zation and it was he who laid out the town of Elizabeth during the early period of his residence in Elhert county. It is today a thriving and enterprising city, having en- joyed substantial growth. In the development of his ranching interests Mr. Phillips has followed progressive methods. He has placed acre after acre of his land under the
WILLIAM H. FERGUSON
Vol. IV-16
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plow and it has been made to bring forth golden harvests as the result of the care and labor which he has bestowed upon it. One proof of his marked enterprise is the present productivity of his land, while the buildings upon his place stand as monuments to his progressive spirit.
In 1887 Mr. Phillips was united in marriage to Miss Carolina Olson and to them have been born a son and a daughter: Arthur Lee Phillips; and Mrs. F. J. Burns, living at Lincoln, Nebraska.
Mr. Phillips is identified with Denver Lodge, No. 5, A. F. & A. M., which is the oldest Masonic lodge in the state, and he has ever been a loyal adherent of the craft, true to its teachings and the beneficent spirit upon which it is founded. He has ever been recognized as a man of genuine worth during the fifty-three years of his residence in this state. There are few who have been connected with the state for a longer period and he recalls many interesting incidents of the early days when the work of progress and development seemed scarcely begun, when there were great open ranges and few fences to indicate that white men had laid claim to the land. The work, how- ever, has been carried forward in keeping with the progressive spirit that has char- acterized agricultural life in the last half century and the home place of Mr. Phillips exemplifies what can be accomplished upon the western frontier when there is a will to dare and to do.
CHARLES G. MCEACHERN, M. D.
Although but five years have come and gone since Dr. Charles G. McEachern opened an office in Denver, he has won a place as one of the eminent surgeons of the city, his professional colleagues and contemporaries, as well as the general public, rec- ognizing the fact that his surgical work is the expression of the latest scientific re- searches and discoveries.
Dr. McEachern was born in Vaiden, Mississippi, January 24, 1875. His father, Angus T. McEachern, was a native of Mississippi and a representative of an old and prominent family of that state of Scotch descent. The founder of the family in America was Daniel McEachern, who after crossing the Atlantic established his home in North Carolina, where he became a planter and slaveholder. His son, Angus T. McEachern, was reared and educated in Mississippi and he, too, became a successful planter. With the outbreak of the Civil war he espoused the cause of the Confederacy, joining the army as a private when a youth of sixteen years. He resided throughout his life in Carroll county, Mississippi, and was a respected and valued citizen of that section of the state. He took a deep interest in political matters and civic affairs and gave stanch support to democratic principles. His death occurred in August, 1917, when he had reached the age of seventy-one years. His wife. who bore the maiden name of Guerring Shipp, is a native of Mississippi and a descendant of an old and prominent family of that state of Scotch lineage. She yet occupies the old family homestead in Carroll county, Mississippi, where she reared her family of eight children, five sons and three daughters.
Dr. McEachern of this review, who was the second son in the family, began his education in the public schools of Carroll county and afterward attended the West Point Military School at West Point, Mississippi. He then became a student in the University of Nashville at Nashville, Tennessee, where he pursued his professional course, being graduated from the medical department with the class of 1900. His early life had been spent on his father's plantation and his youthful experiences were those of the farmbred boy, but after his graduation he entered upon active practice at Vaiden. whence he removed a year later to Moss Point, Mississippi, continuing in the latter place until 1913. He then came to Denver, Colorado, where he arrived on the 1st of June, 1913. While engaged in active and continuous practice in Denver. he specializes In surgery, to which he devotes his attention exclusively. He is a member of the medical staff of the National Jewish Hospital, also of the Denver County Hospital and of the orthopedic department of the University of Colorado.
Dr. McEachern was married in Chicago, Illinois, October 26, 1905, to Miss Laura Griffin, a native of Moss Point, Mississippi. Her parents were James Wyatt and Katherine (McCallum) Griffin, prominent pioneer people of Mississippi. Dr. and Mrs. McEachern have become parents of two sons: Wyatt Griffin, born October 26, 1908, at Moss Point, Mississippi; and Charles Malcolm, born in Denver, August 16, 1914. Dr. McEachern has recently erected a beautiful residence at No. 721 Emerson street and there he and his family are most pleasantly located.
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