USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume IV > Part 30
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While in school Dr. McEachern had a most thorough military training and was captain of Company A. On May 7, 1918, Dr. McEachern was appointed captain in the medical section of the United States army and has engaged in hospital work in various camps. He gives his political endorsement to the democratic party. He was made a member of the Masonic craft at Vaiden, Mississippi, in 1901 and he belongs to Colorado Chapter, No. 29, R. A. M., and Denver Commandery, No. 25, K. T. He also has membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being identified with the lodge at Moss Point, Mississippi. He is likewise connected with the Denver Athletic Club and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Central Presbyterian church of Denver. Along strictly professional lines he is connected with the American Medical Association, the Colorado State Medical Society, the Denver City and County Medical Society and the Tri State Medical Society, which includes Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, and is also a member of the National Surgeons Association. With a nature that could never be content with mediocrity, he has put forth every effort to gain the highest degree of efficiency possible, continually studying along lines of greatest benefit to professional ability. With purpose strong and steadfast he has achieved much and the progress that he has already made indicates that his future career will be well worth the watching.
ALBERT F. SITTLOH.
Twenty years of faithful service and constantly expanding powers have brought Albert F. Sittloh from a modest position to a foremost place in the Denver Dry Goods Company, with which he occupies the position of manager of all the woman's apparel departments. His career has been one of steady growth, illustrating the fact that power develops through the exercise of effort. It moreover illustrates the possibilities for successful attainment that lie before every American citizen.
Mr. Sittloh was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, August 14. 1871, a son of Henry and Mary (Doesher) Sittloh, both of whom were natives of Indiana, born in Wayne and Bartholomew counties respectively. The father remained a resident of that state throughout his life. He was engaged in farming in early manhood and afterward entered the farm implement business with the firm of Garr, Scott & Com- pany but passed away in Indiana when but thirty-four years of age. His widow survives and is now a resident of Richmond, that state. They had a family of four children, of whom Albert F. is the eldest and one has passed away. The others are Mrs. George Bartel and Mrs. Fred Heitbrink, both of Richmond, Indiana.
In his boyhood days Albert F. Sittloh attended the public schools of his native state but when a lad of twelve summers was obliged to go to work. His first employ- ment was in a dry goods store in Indiana and he continued actively in the dry goods business until he came to Denver in September, 1898. During this period he had thoroughly familiarized himself with the business and was considered one of the ablest representatives of the dry goods trade in his native state. On making his way to the west he was most favorably impressed with Denver and decided to remain. He then sought out the largest mercantile establishment of the city in order to secure employment. He was told by the management that if he would accept a very modest salary to start with, until they became convinced of his capability, he might go to work. This he did and it was not long before his powers and understanding of the business were recognized and promotion followed. From time to time he has been advanced until he now commands a large salary with a company that employs a thousand people and he is recognized in commercial circles throughout the country as one of the most valuable men in the dry goods trade, especially familiar with woman's wear. For a number of years he has been at the head of this department, which is the largest and most important of the store. He personally did all of the buying for his departments until the growth of the business made it impossible for him to do so and he now has six assistant buyers, who are under his immediate supervision. . He also has the supervision of hundreds of salespeople, there being ten departments under his charge. To these he gives the closest attention, carefully watch- ing every detail of the business as well as principal features. He studies the market and the public and from the former meets the demands of the latter, with a trade that is continually growing. Not a little of the success of the Denver Dry Goods Company in recent years is attributable to his efforts and his capable management of the depart- ments under his immediate control.
On the 12th of November, 1902. Mr. Sittloh was married to Miss Elma Bartel, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bartel, of Richmond, Indiana, and they now have a
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daughter, Jeanne, born in Richmond in 1906 and a pupil in the schools of Denver. In social circles the family occupies a very enviable position. Mr. Sittloh's efforts have not been confined to his business alone, for he is a man of pronounced activity along other lines, especially those contributing to the moral progress of the community. He has been a foremost factor in the upbuilding of the City and State Sunday School Associations and was the president of the former and is chairman of the board of directors of the latter, with an enrolled membership of one hundred and forty thousand in the state. He is continually studying the problems of the moral education of the young with the same thoroughness that he brings to bear in solving the problems of business. He is a member of the Denver Athletic Club, also of the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and president of the Lions Club and a director of the National Garment Retailers' Association of New York city. The story of honorable and suc- cessful achievement is always one that thrills the reader. Such is the record of Mr. Sittloh. His present financial standing is in marked contrast to his condition when he started out in life at the age of twelve years, working for a very meager wage. He entered the employ of the Denver Dry Goods Company at a salary of but ten dollars per week and today is at the head of large departments which he manages most suc- cessfully. Notwithstanding the heavy demands made upon his time and attention in this way, it has heen his rule to set apart some time each day for the labors of love to which he is so devoted. He has constantly striven for the right and from his early youth has given a large portion of his time to the service of others.
THOMAS JOSEPH MCCUE.
In the more recent political history of Colorado the name of Thomas Joseph McCue, state senator, national committeeman and democratic leader, stands out as that of one horn to the purple of high civic honor. His untimely death on the 9th of August, 1913, deprived the state and the nation of a great lawmaker. Had the word been spoken in 1911, during the now famous senatorial deadlock of Colorado, Thomas J. McCue would have been chosen to succeed the late Charles J. Hughes, Jr., in the United States senate. Some votes were cast for him. An almost unanimous vote of the convention was his if the party leaders had spoken on the last day of that memorable session, but he would not even permit his name to be placed officially in nomination.
Thomas J. McCue was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, August 26, 1864. His parents removed to Chicago two years later and barely escaped with their lives in the great fire of 1871. After spending some time in Massillon, Ohio, the family removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where Thomas J. McCue was educated. In 1885 he became a resident of Kansas and took up a homestead and timber claim comprising three hundred and twenty acres of land in Thomas county. There he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until 1890, when he went into the lumber business, in which he and his brother, William F. McCue, were very successful. From 1893 until Jan- uary, 1896, Thomas J. McCue was receiver at the land office in Colby, Kansas. Where- ever he lived his ability and intense energy brought him to the front as a leader in public affairs as well as in business circles.
Although a resident of Denver from 1896, he did not become prominent politically until 1908, when he was elected state senator from the first district. During the years that preceded and followed his election he, associated with his brother, built up one of the largest lumber companies in the state. He preferred to concentrate his efforts and attention upon the business rather than upon politics, and keen discernment and unfaltering energy made theirs one of the most important lumber interests of Colorado. But with his election to the state senate, Mr. McCue could no longer keep in the back- ground. He won statewide prominence when he became floor leader for what were called the Old Guard Democrats, who controlled the seventeenth general assembly. The great issue of that session was the direct primary law and for three weeks he led the fight for an assembly feature. It was finally carried with the McCue amend- ments at an extra session of the legislature. In the democratic state convention of 1911, Mr. McCue became a candidate for national committeeman, was elected and at the next national convention in 1912 at once assumed a leading position in the party councils. In the campaign of 1912 his success in bringing together a split party and winning the election of a United States senator elicited from national leaders of the party some most complimentary congratulations, including a letter from Josephus Daniels, secretary of the navy during both administrations of President Wilson. He was also given great credit for his zealous advocacy of the direct primary law and it
THOMAS JOSEPH MCCUE
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was Mr. McCue who framed and introduced the joint resolution that gave to Denver its wonderful mountain park system. Politics to him was a pastime. He played the game for the pleasure there was in it and for the opportunity it gave him of promoting public welfare, having no ambition for political honors or gain. Ever possessing the courage of his convictions, he was a tenacious advocate of what he thought right and his advocacy of any measure lent it prestige.
Following his return from the democratic national convention of 1912 Mr. McCue refused to consider a nomination for governor, as he felt that his business required his attention. He then concentrated his efforts upon the further development of the lumber trade with notably gratifying success. While a prosperous business man, he did not live to accumulate. He was liberal and kind-hearted, utterly void of selfishness and no worthy or deserving cause ever appealed to him in vain. He was an excellent judge of human nature and he took great pleasure in recommending capable individuals, his keen sagacity enabling him readily to detect the possibilities and the strength of business men, and he seldom made a mistake in this way. After his passing his brother, William F. McCue, assumed his place as head of the lumber business and has vastly extended it. He, too, has been called to the front in politics, for in 1918, at the Denver primary, he was chosen democratic candidate for state senator, standing at the top of the poll among the candidates for that office. At the same time be directs the impor- tant business interests which have been built up by the brothers. On the 2d of May, 1917, he announced a service retirement plan, whereby twenty-year employes who have passed the age of sixty-five or thirty-year employes who have passed the age of sixty will be retired with thirty per cent of their monthly wage. In case of women the retirement age is ten years less than that of men, the president and directors of the company being alone exempt from the benefits of this plan.
The widow of Thomas J. McCue is still living in Denver and is prominent in social and war work, contributing in large measure to the activities which are proving of such great worth to the country in this hour of crisis. In her maidenhood she was Catharine M. Grier, a native of Mapleton, Wisconsin. Their marriage was celebrated at Norton, Kansas, on the 16th of February, 1898, and their home life was largely ideal. Mr. McCue was most devoted to the interests of his home, finding his greatest happiness at his own fireside in the companionship of his wife and their many friends. His personal qualities were such as made for friendship among all who knew him. He was straightforward, reliable and high-minded and he had many sterling traits which won for him not only the highest regard of those who knew him but also made him very popular in social circles.
WILLIAM EBERT.
William Ebert, engaged in the raising of alfalfa and also in the live stock busi- ness, handling cattle quite extensively, is the owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres of valuable farm land in Adams county. He is a native of Colorado, his birth having occurred on the 20th of August, 1871, in what was then Arapahoe county but is now Adams county, his parents being Ferdinand F. and Kate (Roeder) Ebert. His father, now deceased, was born in Brunswick, Germany, October 20, 1823, and in 1851 crossed the Atlantic, reaching an American port after forty-eight days spent upon the water. He did not tarry in the east but made his way at once to the Mississippi valley. settling in Iowa, where he engaged in farming for seventeen years. He arrived in Colorado in the spring of 1868 and thereafter made his home in what later became Adams county, to the time of his demise, acquiring a valuable ranch property, on which he engaged extensively in the raising of cattle and horses. The place is con- veniently and pleasantly located about fourteen miles east of Denver on the north side of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. In all of his business affairs Mr. Ebert was energetic and enterprising and carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook. His political allegiance was given to the republican party in the early years of his residence in America but later he became a stanch advocate of the principles of the democratic party. He never sought or desired office and served only as a member of the school board.
On the 27th of June, 1858, Ferdinand Ebert was married to Miss Kate Roeder, also a native of Germany, whence she came to the United States with her mother in her girlhood days. Their marriage was celebrated in Iowa and to them were born three sons and three daughters: Ferdinand F .; George W., living in Salt Lake City;
WILLIAM EBERT
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William, of this review; Mary, the wife of Herman C. Behrens; Annie, the wife of B. Speier, of Denver; and Helena.
William Ebert pursued a public school education, continuing his studies until he reached the age of fifteen years. During vacation periods he worked with his father upon the home farm and was thus engaged until the father's death in 1900, when he took over the old home place of twelve hundred and eighty acres and has since cultivated it on his own account. He is now engaged quite extensively in the raising of cattle and also in the production of alfalfa. What he undertakes he accomplishes. He is alert, wide-awake, energetic and his persistency of purpose has also been one of the strong and salient features in the attainment of success. Everything about his place is kept in good condition. An air of neatness and thrift pervades the farm and the Ebert ranch is regarded as one of the attractive features of the landscape.
In politics Mr. Ebert maintains an independent course, nor has he ever been an aspirant for public office. He has served however, as a member of the school board and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. He stands for progres- siveness in public affairs but prefers to concentrate his time and attention upon his individual business interests, which, carefully directed, have brought to him sub- stantial success.
MINERVA L. MCCARTY.
Minerva L. McCarty, superintendent of schools in Elbert county, is a native of Denver and a daughter of James and Ella Viola (Johnson) McCarty. Her maternal grandmother, Mrs. Marcia Johnson, came to Denver with her parents in 1859, the journey being made with ox team and wagon. Many of the relics of that journey, including buffalo hides and implements used while en route, were long kept as mementos by the family. From that time to the present representatives of the family have been active factors in promoting the substantial development of the community.
Miss McCarty of this review was educated in the schools of Denver and at the Teachers College of Greeley, being graduated from the latter institution with the class of 1912. In 1904 she came to Elbert county and took up a homestead in the eastern part of the county, of which she remained the owner until 1917, when she sold the property. It was in the year of her arrival in Elbert county that she became actively identified with its school system. She continued as a teacher from 1904 until 1916, when she was elected county superintendent of schools on the republican ticket. So satisfactory has been her record in this connection that in 1918 she was again made the nominee of the party for the office. She holds to high standards of education, putting forth every possible effort to improve the schools and advance the curriculum, making it of the greatest possible worth as a preparation for life's practical duties and respon- sibilities. She displays a contagious enthusiasm in her work and the results achieved have been most satisfying.
JOHN P. GRAVES.
John P. Graves, now living retired in California but for, many years actively identified with ranching interests in Colorado and one of the well known and hon- ored pioneers of the state, was born in Waynesville, Illinois, October 8, 1848, a son of Oliver and Lucy (Story) Graves. His father was born in Montpelier, Vermont. March 13, 1813, and in his native town spent the days of his boyhood and youth, but after his marriage was for some years a resident of the state of New York. He afterward engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business in Bloomington, Illinois, remain- ing in trade there for four years, after which he withdrew from commercial pursuits and turned his attention to farming. In 1849, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he made his way across the plains to the Pacific coast. His journey was a thrilling one and while he himself escaped arousing the enmity of the Indians he wit- nessed many harrowing scenes, one of which was the revenge taken upon a white man by the Indians for the shooting of an Indian squaw. They skinned the man alive and with the skin they whipped his brother and father. Such dreadful scenes as these he was forced to witness and it may well be imagined that he was extremely grateful when he reached his destination in safety. He successfully followed mining in Cali-
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fornia for two years and then returned to his home with his father-in-law, Palmer Story.
John P. Graves pursued his education in the schools of Bloomington, Illinois, to the age of twelve, when he came to Colorado and for a few years was employed by James Tynon, a grocer. He then turned his attention to farming, which he followed for several years before preempting, about 1875, a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on Dry creek. With characteristic energy he began the development of that tract and continued its further cultivation until a few years ago, when he retired from active business and removed to California, leaving the management of his ranch to his two sons, Frank O. and Phillip. He lived a busy and useful life, his labors bringing about a marked transformation in the appearance of the quarter section of land which came into his possession. He added to it all modern accessories and equipment and converted it into one of the fine farms of the district.
Mr. Graves was united in marriage to Mary E. Wadsworth and their children were: Frank O .; Ernest; Phillip; Bertha, the wife of James Crooks; and Clarence, who is with the United States infantry in France.
Phillip Graves, to whom we are indebted for the material concerning his father, was born upon the old homestead ranch at Arvada and was educated in the public schools of Jefferson county. Through vacation periods and after his textbooks were put aside he continued work on the ranch with his father and has spent the greater part of his life on this property. He wedded Marion Crooks and to them have been born four children, Henry, Lucy, Margaret and Benjamin.
Phillip Graves is now associated with his brother in the development of the home farm and ranks among the enterprising agriculturists of the community. His entire time and attention are concentrated upon the work of the fields and his labors are productive of excellent results.
JAMES M. BRADSHAW.
James M. Bradshaw, owner of the Bradshaw ranch of nineteen hundred and thirty acres, situated near Peyton, in El Paso county, was born in Hancock county, Illinois, on the 5th of April, 1849, a son of John and Susanna (Dickson) Bradshaw. He acquired a common school education and in 1866, when a youth of seventeen years, removed to Franklin county, Kansas, where he resided upon a farm until 1885. He then came to Colorado and purchased eighty acres of school land and also preempted one hundred and sixty acres and homesteaded one hundred and sixty. As his financial resources have increased he has added to his holdings from time to time, making other purchases until his landed possessions now embrace nineteen hundred and thirty acres, constituting one of the large and fine ranches of his section of the state. It is devoted to the raising of stock and grain and he produces from five to ten thou- sand bushels of grain per annum and has upon the place about one hundred and twenty head of cattle. The Bradshaw ranch is a splendidly improved property. There are beautiful groves of trees that surround house, barns and sheds and every modern equipment is to be found upon the place. Well kept fences divide the farm into fields of convenient size and the latest improved machinery facilitates the work of plowing, planting and harvesting. He is not only an extensive grower of wheat but also mills it on the ranch, manufacturing whole wheat graham flour, which is to be found on sale in many stores of the locality. The ranch is pleasantly and conveniently located about four and, a half miles northwest of Peyton and Mr. Bradshaw is regarded as one of the most substantial and progressive farmers of El Paso county.
Mr. Bradshaw was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Brubaker, of Ashland, Ohio, who went with her parents to Douglas county, Kansas, in 1866, and was there educated .. She became the wife of Mr. Bradshaw on the 25th of October. 1877. To Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw have been born two sons. Marcus, born July 28, 1878, married Sarah Barn- hart and has two sons, George and Albert. Earl Bradshaw, after completing a high school course, pursued a course in electricity and steam fitting at Des Moines, Iowa, and is now engaged in business along that line.
Mr. Bradshaw is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Peyton and also a stockholder in the Peyton Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company at that place. He is a man of sound business judgment and his life has been one of well directed industry and thrift. He accomplishes what he undertakes by reason of a stalwart purpose that knows no defeat. He has been a resident of El Paso county for a third of a century and has contributed in marked measure to its progress and improvement.
JAMES M. BRADSHAW
THE JAMES M. BRADSHAW RANCH
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In 1918, he was a candidate for the office of county commissioner on the democratic ticket. He is actuated by a public-spirited devotion to the general good in all that he does and in the development of his farming interests is permeated by a spirit of patriotism that prompts him to raise the largest possible wheat crops in order that the boys over there may be well supplied. All who know him-and he has a wide ac- quaintance speak of him in terms of high regard.
METT GORDON.
Mett Gordon is a well known rancher of Elbert county, living on section 33, town- ship 12, range 57, not far from Limon. He was born in Austria in 1860, a son of Mett and Mary Gordon. The father died when the son was but an infant. The latter acquired his education in his native country and afterward spent three years in mil- itary service, but when he left the army he at once started for America, where he could be free and work out his own ideas of life, enjoying and utilizing the oppor- tunities that came his way. In the year 1885 he became a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and as his financial resources were extremely limited, rendering it imperative that he seek immediate employment, he accepted any work that offered. He entered the steel mills, where he remained for a year, and during that time he was studying and acquainting himself with the English language. Later he went to Buffalo, New York, where he was employed in a brewery for a year, and then removed to Chicago, where he secured work in a foundry. On leaving that city he made his way to Pueblo, Colorado, and after pursuing different kinds of work he removed to Elbert county and homesteaded on section 33, township 12, range 57. For a time he lived in a frame house of one room. He had to go to work in order to get the necessary money for the development of his own place. For five years he was employed by others and during this period he saved everything possible that he had earned. He purchased cattle one by one until at the end of five years he had eighty-five head. During the five year period he was employed on the Holt Live Stock Company's ranch, first at a salary of fifteen dollars per month, while later he received twenty dollars per month.
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