History of Colorado; Volume IV, Part 38

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 836

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To Mr. and Mrs. Watson were born two sons: George H., a well known and prosperous ranchman of Park county, Colorado; and William C., now with the Southern Pacific Railway Company as agent at Fernley, Nevada, and prominently identified with the Order of Railway Trainmen.

In her political views Mrs. Watson is a republican, believing firmly in the prin- ciples of the party. She was postmaster at Fort Logan from 1912 to 1916 and she has been very prominent and active in public affairs of the community, doing not a little to shape public thought and opinion. Her labors in behalf of war activities were particularly valuable and resultant. She has been a member of the Woman's Division of the Colorado Council of National Defense, very active in Red Cross work, was a surveyor on the registration of nurses for war work and a member of the food administration at Fort Logan. At once recognizing the needs of the country with the entrance of America into the war and knowing that there would be much work that women could do in this connection, she began giving her time and effort to meet these calls for service, doing everything within her power that would promote the interests, the health and the welfare of the boys over there.

CHARLES A. MACMILLAN.

Charles A. MacMillan needs no introduction to the readers of this volume and especially to the citizens of Denver, where he is widely and prominently known as a lawyer and by reason of his activities along philanthropic lines. Illinois claims him as a native son, for his birth occurred in the city of Peoria on the 15th of October, 1870. He is a son of James Calvin and Katherine (Anderson) MacMillan. In the paternal line he comes of Scotch-Irish ancestry, although the family has been represented in the United States through three generations. In the maternal line he

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is descended from New England stock. His father was born in Indiana but removed to Illinois, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. When the country be- came involved in civil war, however, he offered his aid to the Union and went to the front with the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, with which he did active service. He was an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Grant and he remained at the front until victory crowned the Union arms. He is now residing upon a farm in Arapahoe county, Colorado, but is not actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, having put aside business cares to enjoy a well earned rest. To him and his wife have been horn six children, of whom five are living.

Charles A. MacMillan was a public school pupil in Kansas, to which state his parents removed after leaving Illinois. Later he continued his education in the Uni- versity of Denver as a member of the class of 1894. He then left that institution but studied law in Denver under a private preceptor and thus qualified for admission to the bar. He was licensed to practice in 1896 and opened an office in the E. and C. building in Denver. After a brief period, however, he removed to Wyoming, settling at Rock Springs, and for two terms he served as prosecuting attorney of the district. He then removed to Spokane, Washington, where he remained for seven years, prac- ticing law there until appointed special United States district attorney under President Taft, in which capacity he served from 1909 until 1911. The following year he re- turned to Denver, where he has since engaged in the practice of law and in the management of his private interests.

In 1899 Mr. MacMillan was united in marriage to Miss Anna Wight, who was born in Maine, a daughter of Frederick D. Wight, of Denver, who was at one time a very prominent business man of Trinidad, Colorado, and a leading citizen of the state. His later years were passed in Denver, where he died about six years ago, leaving an extensive estate. To Mr. and Mrs. MacMillan have been born five chil- dren: Dorothy, a student at The Wolcott School, Denver, and who possesses considerable musical talent; Charles Wight, born August 1, 1902, in Denver, a high school pupil; Frederick Dearborn, horn October 2, 1904, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, attending high school; and Ruth and Marjorie, who are also in school.

Mr. MacMillan turns to motoring, to trout fishing and to golf for recreation. He belongs to Beta Theta Pi, a college fraternity, and he is also connected with the Benev- olent Protective Order of Elks and with the Masonic fraternity. His membership in the latter is in Oriental Lodge, No. 74, A. F. & A. M., of Spokane; in Colorado Chapter, No. 29, R. A. M .; Denver Commandery, No. 25, K. T .; and in El Jebel Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Lakewood Country Club and to the Denver Athletic Club, and is a member of the Denver Civic and Commercial Association. He is also a member of the First Congregational church and of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation and in the latter is serving on the boys' committee. He takes a deep interest in philanthropic work, contributing generously to the support of many plans and move- ments toward ameliorating hard conditions of life for the unfortunate and is ever ready to extend a helping hand where aid is needed. Intensely interested in the vital prob- lems of the country at the present time, he does active service in connection with the promotion of Liberty loans and the Red Cross. His life has indeed heen a busy, active and useful one, characterized by high purposes and fraught with great good.

JOHN R. WOLFF.

Liberal educational training well qualified John R. Wolff for professional activity and since 1900 he has been actively and successfully engaged in the practice of law in Boulder. He was born upon a farm in Jefferson county, Colorado, near Denver, in 1877. His grandfather, John B. Wolff, was a native of Martinsburg, Virginia, and was a son of Joseph Wolff, who served America as a soldier in the War of 1812 and again in the Mexican war. He was also keeper of the Long Bridge at Washington, D. C., during the Civil war. His father had been a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war and thus through many generations the family has manifested the utmost loyalty to American interests. John Wolff, the father of John R. Wolff of this review, was born in Wheeling, Virginia, now West Virginia, in the year 1848 and was a youth of fourteen years when in July, 1862, he arrived in Colorado in company with his father. They settled upon a ranch near Denver, where John Wolff remained for six or seven years. He then returned eastward as far as Iowa and spent two years in that state, after which he again became a resident of Colorado, settling in Larimer county. At a later period he removed to Adams county, where

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he engaged in ranching for a number of years and then took up his abode in Boulder, where he now makes his home.

Between the years 1881 and 1895 Jolin R. Wolff remained upon his father's farm in Adams county, Colorado, having the usual experiences that fall to the lot of the farmbred boy who divides his time between the acquirement of a public school educa- tion and the work of the fields. He continued in the district schools until 1888, when he entered the North Denver high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1895. He determined upon a professional career and with that end in view entered the University of Colorado at Boulder, completing his law course as a graduate of the class of 1899 and finishing his academic course as a member of the class of 1900. Thus well qualified by liberal literary and professional training, he entered upon the practice of his profession in Boulder and through the intervening years has specialized in mining law, showing marked ability in handling important cases of this character, while the extent of his clientage indicates much concerning his success.

On the 22d of July, 1903, Mr. Wolff was united in marriage to Miss Maude C. Hague, a daughter of Charles G. Hague, and they now have two children, John R. and Lois Josephine. Mr. Wolff is a member of the First Presbyterian church, is also identified with the Boulder Club and is a Master Mason. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and these associations and membership relations indicate much of the nature of his interests and the rules which govern his conduct. Aside from his activity along those lines and in the path of his profession he is greatly interested in mining and is a director in many mining companies, having made most judicious investment in mining properties in this section of the country. His judg- ment is sound, his discrimination keen and his investments have brought to him a substantial financial return. There are few, if any, more thoroughly conversant with mining law in all of its departments and phases, and the soundness of his legal opinions is attested by colleagues and contemporaries at the bar.

JAMES N. COUNTER.

James N. Counter, one of the progressive, alert and energetic business men of Brighton, was born in the province of Ontario, Canada. January 10, 1858, a son of Charles and Adelaide (Watts) Counter. He obtained his education in Ontario and in Kansas, the family having removed during his boyhood days to the latter state. He learned the printer's trade in Belleville, Kansas, where he worked until he reached his majority. He then went to Oberlin, Kansas, where he conducted a newspaper for a time, and in 1887 he arrived in Wray, Colorado, where he purchased the Wray Rattler, which he owned and published for ten years. He made it a very attractive journal, the name indicating the enterprising spirit manifest in the paper and its endorsement of all those interests of benefit to the public. Prospering in his undertaking, he extended the scope of his business activity by the purchase of a lumber yard there. This he conducted until 1902, when he disposed of his interests in Wray and removed to Brighton, where he became owner of a lumber yard, in which he carries an extensive line of all kinds of lumber and building supplies. He has built up a business of large and gratifying proportions.

In Belleville, Kansas, on the 29th of July, 1883, Mr. Counter was united in marriage to Miss May Tucker, a daughter of H. Tucker. Their children are four in number. James C. is now in the service of the government as irrigation manager of the Belle Fouche (So. Dak.) irrigation project. He is a graduate of the state college. at Fort Collins, where he pursued a thorough course in civil and irrigation engineering, being later elected to the office of county surveyor for Adams county, which position he filled most creditably. Benjamin T. is associated in business with his father in Brighton. Clara J. is the wife of William A. Gaddis. Mildred, the young- est, is yet at home.

Mr. Counter belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the former he has connections with Brighton Lodge, No. 78, A. F. & A. M., of which he is a past master; Denver Chapter, No. 2, R. A. M .; Colorado Commandery, No. 1, K. T .; and El Jebel Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he is recognized as one of its leaders in his section of the state. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, called him to the office of mayor and continued him in that position for four years, during which he gave the city a most businesslike and progressive administration. He studied its needs and its possibilities, seeking to obviate the former and develop the latter

JAMES N. COUNTER

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to the benefit of the entire community. Adams county chose him to be its rep- resentative in the state legislature from 1914 until 1916 and while a member of the house he gave the most thoughtful, earnest and careful attention to all vital ques- tions which came up for settlement. He stands for progressiveness in public affairs just as he does in business life and his entire career has been characterized by steady advancement, while each forward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities.

ISAAC E. McBROOM.

Isaac E. McBroom was a respected citizen of Arapahoe county and when death called him his loss was deeply felt by his many friends and associates in that section of the state. He was born in Indiana, April 22, 1830, a son of Joseph and Phoebe (Young) McBroom, both of whom were natives of Virginia. In early life, however, they removed to Indiana and Mr. McBroom was for many years actively engaged in farming there.

Isaac E. McBroom spent his youthful days to the age of thirteen years in his native state and then accompanied his parents on their removal to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he continued his education, which had been begun in the public schools of Indiana. In 1850 he removed to Mills county, Iowa, where he settled upon a farm and there resided until 1860, when he crossed the plains to Denver with that great tide of emigration that was flowing into the state and reclaiming its vast areas for the purposes of civilization. He settled upon his widow's present farm, homestead- ing one hundred and sixty acres which adjoins the present town of Fort Logan, although the town had not been established at that period. He was one of the pioneer agricul- turists of the community and contributed to the development and improvement of his section of the state in large measure. He first built a log cabin and occupied that dwelling until 1889, when he erected a fine brick residence that is still standing upon the place-one of the attractive farm homes of the district. As the years passed he energetically and successfully followed farming and stock raising, both branches of his business proving profitable. He was thus actively engaged to the time of his demise.

In Iowa, in 1854, Mr. McBroom had been married to Miss Emma L. Brower, a native of Kane county, Illinois, and a daughter of Joseph and Cordelia (Hussy) Brower, both of whom were natives of the state of New York. They removed westward to Illinois in the '30s and became residents of Iowa in 1850, at which time they settled upon a farm, there spending the remainder of their days. Mr. and Mrs. McBroom became the parents of three children, but the first two died in infancy. The surviving daughter, Eva, is the wife of Clark Payter and they live upon the farm with her mother. They have one son, Richard E., who is a high school pupil.

The death of Mr. McBroom occurred on the 17th of October, 1914, when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-four years, and his remains were interred in the Littleton cemetery. He was a self-made man, who started out in the business world empty-handed, but by unfaltering industry and determination he acquired a handsome fortune and left his family in most comfortable financial circumstances. In politics he was a very loyal and earnest republican, never faltering in his support of the prin- ciples of the party. He served upon the town board and upon the school board and at all times he stood for progress and improvement in his community. He had been loyal in citizenship, had conducted business interests with ability and success and he laid down his task in the twilight of the day, when all that he had to do had been nobly and fully completed.

FRED C. CRAMER.

Fred C. Cramer, possessed of executive ability and qualities of business leadership, is now at the head of the Denver Powerine Company, of which he purchased the control on June 2, 1913. This company handles petroleum products and has developed a business of extensive proportions. Mr. Cramer was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, February 23, 1864, a son of Boardman J. and Mary E. (Wright) Cramer, who were also natives of the Empire state. In the year 1861 they removed westward to Lawrence, Kansas, and there the father engaged in carpenter work. Later, however,

MR. AND MRS. ISAAC E. McBROOM

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the family returned to New York, remaining for a year, and then removed to Lawrence, Kansas, where Boardman J. Cramer resided to the time of his death in 1882. His widow survived and passed away in Denver in 1911. In their family were five children, three of whom have passed away, the surviving brother of Fred C. Cramer being Charles B. Cramer, a former state engineer of Colorado and a well known resident of Denver.

Fred C. Cramer was the third in order of birth in his father's family. He attended the schools of Lawrence, Kansas, and afterward spent two years as a student in the University of Kansas, thus receiving liberal educational privileges. In 1881 he established his home at Leadville, Colorado, where he began work in a harness shop at a wage of twenty-five dollars per month, and board. He left that position in March, 1882, and traveled through various sections of Idaho, remaining for a time at Boise and there fitting out for a prospecting trip through the Wood River district. He re- mained in that state until 1885, when he came to Denver, en route to Rochester, New York, where for three years he was employed as a dry goods clerk and also in a flour mill. In 1888, however, he again came to the west, making his way to Breckenridge, Colorado, where he engaged in mining and civil engineering on his own account. He maintained his home at Breckenridge until 1913 and, in addition to his other activities there, engaged in practice as a civil and mining engineer, maintaining an office for that work in Cripple Creek from 1891 until 1893. In 1913 he disposed of his interests at Breckenridge and returned to Denver, where as stated he purchased the controlling interest of the Denver Powerine Company, of which he has since been the president. This company handles all kinds of high class petroleum products and maintains various oil filling automobile stations which are the pride of Denver. These are situated in various parts of the city and the one located at Fourteenth and Tremont streets is as fine as can be found in the entire west. Mr. Cramer is also the president of the Midnight Oil Company, operating in Colorado and Wyoming. His business interests are thus extensive and important and substantial success is rewarding his labors.

On the 17th of June, 1890, Mr. Cramer was married to Miss Louise E. Brooks, of Leadville, Colorado, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Brooks, pioneer people of that city. Her father is still living, now making his home at Seattle, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Cramer have two children: George B., born in Breckenridge, August 6, 1891; and Harold F., born in Denver, August 20, 1897. Harold F. Cramer was educated in the East Denver high school, with a year's study at Golden, and is now a member of the United States army, serving with Company G, of the Twenty-ninth Colorado Engineers, which is attached to the Rainbow Division, that in the drives of 1918 has covered itself with undying credit and honor. George B. Cramer is married, having wedded Miss Hazel E. Anderson, and is in the United States Tank service at Camp Colt, Pennsylvania.

In politics Mr. Cramer maintains an independent course, but has been affiliated with the democratic party for twenty-five years. While living in Breckenridge he served as treasurer of the town for several years, making a most creditable record in that position. Fraternally he is a Mason, having membership in the blue lodge, and he belongs to the Kiwanis Club, also to the Denver Motor Club and to the Denver Civic and Commercial Association. He stands for all that has to do with the progress, development, upbuilding and improvement of the city and state and his life typifies the progressive spirit of the west, leading to its rapid and substantial advancement.

JOHN McINNES.

John McInnes is one of the well known residents of Boulder, who after long and prominent connection with business affairs is now living retired, although he still acts as vice president of the First National Bank of Boulder, to which position he was called in 1902. He was born in Ontario, Canada, February 1, 1840. His father, Donald McInnes, a native of Scotland, was born in the year 1792 and crossed the Atlantic to Canada in 1817. He was married in Ontario to Margaret McRae and died in the year 1851, while his wife passed away in 1850.

John McInnes was therefore a little lad of but eleven years when left an orphan. He was reared in Ontario and acquired a common school education, after which he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed through two winter seasons in Ontario, and in 1862 he came to the United States, making his way to the copper mining country on Lake Superior. There he resided for four years, being connected with a mining company in above-ground work. At the close of the Civil war he re-

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moved to Green Bay, Michigan, where he resided for thirty-one years and during that period was actively and extensively engaged in the lumber business. Attracted by the opportunities of the west, he arrived in Boulder, Colorado, in 1898 and through the succeeding period of twenty years has heen a resident of this city. In 1902 he was called to the office of vice president of the First National Bank of Boulder and has since occupied that position but is now practically living retired. He was connected with copper mining, in which he won a notable measure of success. In all business affairs he has displayed keen sagacity which has resulted in judicious investment. and indefatigable energy and unfaltering perseverance have also been features of his business career, placing him in his present position as one of the prosperous residents of Boulder.

In December, 1897, in Michigan, Mr. McInnes was united in marriage to Miss Georgina C. Helps and to them have been born two sons and a danghter: Donald, Gertrude and Gordon. The family home, which is one of the finest in Boulder, was built ahont 1904. The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. McInnes is that of the Presby- terian church, while socially he is connected with the Boulder Club and in his political views is a republican. He displays many of the sterling characteristics of the people who come from the land of the crag and glen, of mountain peak and mountain lake, of lowland heath and plain-the land of liberty, poetry and song, of religious and educational zeal, the home of Wallace and Bruce, of Scott and Burns, the land whose heroes have honored Britain's flag on every field from Waterloo to the Crimea and Lucknow, on to the great battlefields of the World war. Scotland has been the ances- tral home of many of America's brightest, best and most capable men. It is from that land that Mr. McInnes traces his lineage, and the determined purpose which has ever marked the Scotch people has been one of the strong and salient forces in his honor- able and prosperous career.

ROBERT A. CHACE.

Robert A. Chace, who owns and operates a ranch on section 8, in Morgan county, adjoining the town of Fort Morgan, and makes a specialty of the raising of Percheron horses, Galloway cattle and Poland China hogs, has been very successful in the con- duct of his business affairs. The reason is not far to seek. He has always regarded industry as the basis of honorable success and industry has therefore constituted the foundation on which he has builded his prosperity. Mr. Chace comes to Colorado from Illinois. He was born in Ottawa, that state, on the 22d of August, 1857, a son of Edward and Elizabeth (Lewis) Chace, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father, a farmer by occupation, removed westward to Lasalle county, Illinois, at an early period in the development of that region, settling there abont 1832. The work of improvement had scarcely been begun in that district, for it was in that year that the Black Hawk war occurred and decided the question of the supremacy of the Indians in Illinois, the white settlers demonstrating their right to rule over the land and utilize it for the purposes of civilization. The father purchased and improved land, which he continued to cultivate throughout his remain- ing days, his death there occurring on the 11th of April, 1875. His widow survived for many years, passing away at the home of her son, Robert A., on the 30th of July, 1900.

Robert A. Chace was reared and educated in Lasalle and Livingston counties of Illinois, remaining with his parents after completing his education and cultivating the old homestead farm in Livingston county until the spring of 1888, when he removed to Arapahoe county, Colorado, where he took up a homestead eighty miles east of Denver. This he continued to develop for five years, proving up on the claim in 1893. He afterward sold that property and bought a farm in Morgan county, a mile south of Fort Morgan. This he also developed and improved, continning the cultivation of that land until 1899, when he purchased his present place of one hundred and sixty acres. Later he bought an additional tract of one hundred and sixty acres across the road and has further invested in land as his financial resources increased until his holdings now aggregate five thousand acres in Morgan county, farming, however, only a section of this. In all of his undertakings he has been quite successful and has become widely known as a leading stock raiser, making a specialty of Percheron horses, Galloway cattle and Poland China hogs, and his business in that direction has brought to him substantial profits. He is also a director of the First National Bank of Fort Morgan, in which connection he has remained for many years. He has ever stood for progress and improvement along all lines leading to general benefit and Vol. IV-21

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History of Colorado; Volume IV, Part 38

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 836

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 836