USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume IV > Part 39
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upbuilding throughout the state. He was largely instrumental in securing the location of the sugar factory at Fort Morgan and he now has been a director of the National Western Stock Show of Denver for several years and also an exhibitor from its be- ginning. He has been prominently associated with irrigation interests, being con- nected with various ditch boards and serving at one time on fourteen different boards. His close study of every problem connected with irrigation has made his judgment in that regard very valuable and his cooperation has done much to enhance land values in the state through the development of its irrigation interests.
On the 13th of September, 1882, Mr. Chace was married to Miss Alice Everett, a daughter of Alfred E. and Susan J. (Bowers) Everett, the former a native of Frances- town, New Hampshire, while the latter was born in Chester, Ohio. Her father followed farming throughout his entire business career, residing most of that period in Livings- ton county, Illinois, where Mrs. Chace was born. He was one of the first settlers there and was closely associated with its agricultural interests to the time of his death, which occurred in November, 1875. For more than three years he had survived bis wife, who passed away in March, 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. Chace have been born seven children: Alfred, who was born in August, 1886, and is now at Camp Grant, Illinois; Reno E., who is operating the Chace & Sons ranches in Wyoming, comprising thirty thousand acres of land, on which they run sheep and cattle an important project for one of his years, for he was born in October, 1887; Myra, who was born in August, 1890, and is the wife of Professor R. J. Hale, of Fort Morgan, agricultural teacher in the public schools and also having charge of extension work for the State College; Willard, who was born November 12, 1897, and is at home; Ida, who died in November, 1898, when but eighteen days old; one child, who died in infancy; and Cora, who died in November, 1899, at the age of four and a half years.
Politically Mr. Chace is a republican and in 1896 was nominated on the party ticket for the office of state legislator but was defeated. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. He has done splendid work on behalf of public progress and improvement, especially in connection with the development of the natural resources of Colorado. His labors have been an effective force in stimulating ambition and a desire for progress and improvement on the part of others, especially in connection with the National Western Stock Show of Denver.
JOHN W. ROBB.
John W. Robb is the owner of an excellent property in eastern Jefferson county, now in the suburb of Lakewood, and his land is devoted to farming and fruit growing. Although he once owned many acres he now has sold all but ten, for Mr. Robb has reached the eightieth milestone on life's journey. He was born at Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana, of Scottish parentage, on the 15th of July, 1838. The public schools afforded him his educational opportunities and in his youthful days he worked in his father's woolen factory until he reached the age of seventeen. In 1855 the family removed to Walshville, Montgomery county, Illinois, after which John W. Robb left home at the age of twenty-one years and traveled through Missouri and Kansas. In Kansas City he secured a position in the Bullard machine shops, which were devoted to the making of quartz mills for the mines. In April, 1860, accompanied by two of his brothers, he started for Pike's Peak and on the 15th of May arrived in Denver, from which point he proceeded to Central City. He engaged in prospecting and mining and later he assisted in building a ditch from the Fall river to Nevada City. He was also one of the promoters in organizing the Empire and Union mining districts. In September, 1861, he enlisted in Company K of the First Colorado Cavalry and served for four months. He then enlisted in Company H, Curtis' Horse Regiment, at Peru, Nebraska, and was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. The name of the organization was changed to the Fifth Iowa Cavalry and they went directly into active service. At the battle of Franklin, on Dick river, in 1864, and while on picket duty at night, Mr. Robb was captured, stripped of his uniform and marched to the Fort Columbia stockade in Tennessee. Thence he was transferred to Montgomery, Ala- bama, and afterward to Thomasville, Georgia, from which point he was taken to Selma, Alabama, and afterward to Meridian, Mississippi, while finally he was sent to Ander- sonville, Georgia, having marched seven hundred miles barefooted and suffering all the miseries and tortures of prison life. Once he made his escape from his captors but after a chase of nine days was recaptured. On the approach of Union forces he was paroled and returned to his command at Nashville, Tennessee.
J. W. Robb.
JOHN W. ROBB
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With the close of the war Mr. Robb returned to Colorado to find that his agent, in whose care he had placed his interests had made his escape and the property, amounting to thirty-eight thousand dollars, had been sold, regardless of the act of congress giving a soldier a year to return to his mines. Mr. Robb was therefore obliged to begin life anew but soon became a victim to mountain fever and was forced to go into the valley.
It was then that Mr. Robb located four miles west of Denver, on the West Colfax road, in Jefferson county. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land and for many years devoted his time and energies to general agricultural pursuits and fruit raising. He brought the land under a high state of development and improvement and it is today one of the excellent properties of this section of the state. During the intervening years, however, he has sold all but ten acres which now constitutes his home place, where he lives with his daughter Martha, his wife having passed away two years ago.
In his political views Mr. Robb is a republican and has ever been a stalwart sup- porter of the party which was the defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and has always been a party of reform and progress. He is a member of the Society of Colorado Pioneers and maintains pleasant relations with his old military comrades as a member of A. Lincoln Post, No. 4, G. A. R. He was one of six brothers who served in the Union army and is the sole survivor. His has indeed been an active and useful life, and he can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear.
CHARLES EMERSON.
Charles Emerson, who passed away in Denver, August 23, 1896, at the advanced age of eighty-one years, was born in Marietta, Ohio, August 6, 1815, his parents being Caleb and Mary (Dana) Emerson. The father was a lawyer and newspaper pub- lisher of Marietta, Ohio. The ancestors came to America between 1640 and 1700. They were mostly English, with a slight French strain, and members of the family through succeeding generations have been lawyers, farmers and preachers.
Charles Emerson attended the schools of Marietta, Ohio, in which city he was reared, and also spent a year or more as a student in Oberlin College hefore entering the University of Cincinnati for the study of medicine. Between courses of study he taught school. He also served an apprenticeship with a practicing physician. a course that was often followed by medical students at that time. In his early twenties he settled in Van Wert, Ohio, where he practiced medicine until about thirty-seven years of age. He afterward entered the banking husiness, establishing a private bank in Van Wert in connection with a Mr. Wells of that place. The hank was nationalized as the First National Bank of Van Wert in 1861 with Mr. Emerson as president and Its active executive head, and he remained in active connection therewith until 1870, when he removed to Greeley, Colorado, and there entered a private banking firm as an inactive partner. He sold his Ohio interests in 1876, settling permanently in this state, and with C. G. Buckingham, of Boulder, Colorado, founded the bank of Emerson & Buckingham, of Longmont, Colorado, but was never active in the work of the bank, which is one of the oldest moneyed institutions in the state and is still in existence, though recently it has been nationalized under another name. Mr. Emer- son soon parted with his interest in the bank, as did Mr. Buckingham, to Charles Day and Walter Buckingham. He afterward engaged extensively in real estate oper- ations and irrigation enterprises and at one time owned ten thousand acres of land in Colorado. He was the largest stockholder and the first president of the Platte and Beaver Improvement Company, which built The Upper Platte and Beaver Canal and The Lower Platte and Beaver Canal of Morgan county, Colorado, bringing under irri- gation over thirty thousand acres of land in the eastern part of that county. He also engaged in the cattle business and after selling his Greeley interests removed to Denver in 1885, there spending his remaining days, his death occurring August 23, 1896.
On the 8th of May, 1842, Mr. Emerson was married to Margaret (Bangman) Grier, who died in 1869, and on the 15th of March, 1873, he wedded Mrs. Kate (Hill) Atkinson, a widow, the latter a daughter of Richard and Mary (Richings) Hill, the former an export merchant of Birmingham, England, where Mrs. Emerson was born March 10, 1835, dying in Denver, June 10, 1908. Mr. Emerson's children, born of his first marriage, were Elizabeth E. Marble, Mary Buckingham and Margaret E. Smith, but the last named is the only one now living. The children of the second marriage
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CHARLES EMERSON
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are: Charles William and George Dana, both of whom are married; and Rose Hill, the wife of Stanley V. Hamly, of Denver.
Mr. Emerson was not a party man but was inclined to single tax ideas. He served as the first local treasurer of Union colony of Greeley, occupying the office for six years. While he made valuable contribution to the development and progress of the state, it was not as an office holder but in the advancement of his individual interests, which were ever of a character that constituted an important element in the upbuilding of the districts in which he operated.
HENRY P. MANHART.
Henry P. Manhart, county and state road contractor, who has done important public work especially in bridge building, makes his home at Castle Rock. He was born in Douglas county, Colorado, April 15, 1870, a son of Christ and Sarah (Varney) Manhart, both of whom are natives of Pennsylvania and came to Colorado in 1860. They are now residents of Sedalia.
Henry P. Manhart acquired a common school education while spending his youth- ful days upon his father's farm. He was also trained in the work of the fields and after his textbooks were put aside he assumed the management of the home ranclı, which he continued to further develop and cultivate until 1902, when he established a market at Sedalia, continuing in business there for four years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Pierce, Colorado, where he engaged in the implement busi- ness for two years, and later he took up his abode at Larkspur, Colorado, where he carried on mercantile interests for two and a half years. Since that date he has been engaged in contract work in road and bridge construction, both for the county and state, in Douglas county. He does practically all of the bridge construction work in his county and keeps busy throughout the year a large force of workmen. He thoroughly understands the scientific principles of bridge building as well as the practical phases of the work and the results of his labors are highly satisfactory to the public.
In 1898 Mr. Manhart was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Lowell, who was born in Maine but was reared in Sedalia, Colorado. They have one child, Bessie F., born December 21, 1900, now a high school graduate who expects soon to enter Colorado College with a two years' scholarship in recognition of the highest standing in her class. Mr. Manhart is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being identified with Lodge No. 142 at Sedalia. He is leading a busy and useful life. There are no esoteric phases in his career, his entire course being characterized by industry and enterprise, leading to the wise use of his opportunities, and his work has ever been of a character that has contributed to public progress and welfare.
JAMES COWIE.
James Cowie is a business man of discernment and marked enterprise whose attention is now largely given to the supervision of his invested interests, which include much property in Boulder, where he makes his home. He was born in For- farshire, Scotland, in 1855, a son of William Cowie, who was born in 1800 and passed away in the land of hills and heather in the year 1866.
James Cowie obtained his education in the schools of his native country and in 1872, when a youth of seventeen years, bade adieu to friends and native land and sailed for the new world. He took up his abode in Syracuse, New York, where he remained for five years, being there engaged in clerking. In 1877 he came to Boulder county, Colorado, where he turned his attention to mining, concentrating his efforts upon mining activities for twelve years, during which time he was connected with the famous Caribou mine as mill assayer and assistant superintendent. This was a position of large responsibility, the duties of which, however, he most capably dis- charged. In 1889 he was elected clerk of Boulder county and by reelection was continued in that office for four years. For ten years, beginning in 1897, he served on the Boulder school board and long before the expiration of that term of office he was called to higher political honors. It was in 1902 that he was made the nominee of the republican party for the office of secretary of state and endorsement of his first term's service came to him in reelection, so that he was the incumbent in that position for
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four years. He was again called to a position of public trust in 1905, when he was chosen mayor of Boulder for a two years' term, during which he gave to the city a businesslike and progressive administration characterized by various needed reforms and improvements. He has never ceased to feel the keenest interest in politics but is not active as an office holder at the present time. His attention is concentrated, in as far as he gives his time to business affairs, upon the interests of the Boulder Building & Loan Association, of which he has been the president for a quarter of a century.
In January, 1881, in the city of Boulder, Mr. Cowie was united in marriage to Miss Irene Beckett Reed, a daughter of the late James Reed and a native of Iowa. To them have been born three daughters: Irene Jane, now deceased; Isabel C., who is the wife of Floyd Redding, a well known architect of Denver; and Josephine R., who is the wife of Bailey H. Dunlap, living in La Feria, Texas.
Mr. Cowie is well known as a representative of the Masonic fraternity in Boulder, having attained the Knight Templar degree, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias and with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He stands for all those things which have progressive worth in the life of the individual and of the community and his career is an illustration of the fact that the path of opportunity is open to all. Without special advantages at the outset of his career, his equipment being that of a common school education, he started in the business world and step by step has worked his way steadily upward. Watchful of all opportunities pointing to success, he has wisely utilized the chances which have come to him and his keen sagacity has enabled him to understand the right time for real estate investment. Accordingly he has added to his holdings as the years have passed on, until his property interests now return to him a most gratifying income.
WILLIAM M. GRAVES.
Among the successful business men of Arvada, Jefferson county, was numbered William M. Graves, who there profitably conducted a blacksmith shop which was also fitted with feed grinders, planing mill, turning lathe and other machinery along similar lines. Moreover, he operated threshing machines and from this source derived a gratifying addition to his income. He was among the pioneers of his district and during the long period of his residence in Jefferson county he made many friends, in business as well as in private life. All were agreed upon his high qualities of charac- ter, his sound business principles and his value as a public-spirited citizen.
William M. Graves was born near Bloomington, Illinois, August 12, 1846, the eldest of five children born to Oliver and Lucy (Story) Graves. The other members of the family are: John, who is farming near Broomfield, Colorado; Mary, the wife of E. Porter Smith, who follows the same line of work near Broomfield; Edward, a mining man, who makes his home in Denver; and Harry, a merchant of Broomfield. Oliver Graves, who was one of the California Argonauts, was a native of the Green Mountain state, being born in Montpelier, March 13, 1813. His youthful days were spent in the city of his birth but after his marriage a removal was made to New York state, where the family home was maintained for several years. The opportunity of attain- ing more readily to fortune and independence in the farther west decided him to remove to Illinois, where in the city of Bloomington he established a wholesale and retail grocery business which he conducted for four years, at the end of which time he embarked in agricultural pursuits. The world-stirring news of the rich gold dis- coveries in California in the year 1849 induced him, however, to seek out the gold fields and court fortune to grant him a rich stake. He started across the plains and amid dangers from Indians and other sources he pursued his way until at last he reached his destination. His journey was filled with thrilling incidents, and while he himself did not arouse the enmity of the red men, he witnessed many harrowing scenes. One of these was the skinning of a white man alive by the Indians as a revenge for shooting an Indian squaw. Such terrible scenes he was forced to witness and it was therefore with gratitude in his heart that he finally reached his destination unscathed. In his mining operations he was more successful than most of those who sought fortunes in California and after two years of arduous labor he returned home with his father-in-law, Palmer Story, bringing a considerable sum of money with him. During the Pike's Peak excitement of 1859 Mr. Graves was attracted to Colorado and engaged in mining at Spring Gulch. In 1860 he again returned to Illinois
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in order to take his family west and they settled twelve miles from Blackhawk, where he bought a toll road from Golden Gate, twelve miles up into the mountains. He was however, unable to hold it and in 1862 he removed to Arvada, where he had taken up a ranch claim in January, 1861. Here he settled, devoting the balance of his life to agricultural pursuits and acquiring a gratifying competence. His death occurred May 4, 1896, when he was in his eighty-fourth year.
William M. Graves was reared in Illinois and there received his early education. When about fourteen years of age he came with the family to Colorado and at the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade in Golden Gate with Ashley Howard. He thus continued for eighteen months, when he removed to Denver, con- tinuing to work along the same line under Ansel Barker, who had a shop on the present site of Brown Brothers' wholesale grocery. While in Denver six lots were offered him on that site for three hundred and fifty dollars but he refused to buy them. For two years he remained with Ansel Barker, but then his father's illness caused him to give up his work there and he returned home in order to take charge of the farm. He had bought a thresher in the fall of 1868 and about three years later took up the threshing business in a regular way, becoming quite successful along this line and operating three steam threshers, which were kept busy day after day during the season. He also built a blacksmith's shop in Arvada and in connection with this business, which grew to gratifying proportions, he had a shop fitted up with feed grinders, planing mill, turning lathe, band saw and other machinery to do special work for the surrounding farmers, saving them thereby delay and trouble. All his enterprises were managed ably and as the years passed he prospered. He also continued in the operation of the home farm, which he brought to a high state of productiveness, installing modern machinery and facilities upon the place. He was thoroughly well versed in agricultural subjects, knew which crops were the most profit- able and studied soil conditions, climate, moisture problems, etc., following scientific principles in the operation of his land.
On January 14, 1868, the marriage of William M. Graves and Miss Elizabeth Perrin was celebrated. To them eleven children were born, three of whom died in infancy. The others are: Ollie; Charles; Ruth; Annie; Robert; Louise; Nellie; and Ida, who has passed away. The family enjoy the high regard of the community in which they live and are honored as pioneers of the section.
In his political affiliations Mr. Graves was a republican and faithfully supported the measures and candidates of that party. The public welfare found in him a stanch friend and he supported many movements undertaken for the benefit of Jefferson county, having in 1892 been elected county commissioner on the republican ticket and, being reelected, served two terms in that capacity. His reelection stood as in- controvertible proof of his popularity and ability and his unselfish aims in serving the county turned out to its benefit. In his official capacity he promoted and supported projects and improvements which greatly developed the district. The cause of educa- tion also was always close to the heart of Mr. Graves and for fifteen years he was school director of his district. As a public-spirited and patriotic American citizen he proved an invaluable factor in planting the seeds of civilization in the wilds of the west and his county and town have been bettered through his activities.
JOHN R. HOPKINS, M. D.
Dr. John R. Hopkins, a physician and surgeon of Denver, was born at Stony Creek, Ontario, Canada, January 30, 1871, a son of Silas and Katherine (Agnew) Hopkins. The mother was born in the north of Ireland but in early life went to Canada, where she was married. The father was a native of that country and engaged extensively in fruit raising, becoming one of the prominent orchardists near Ham- ilton, Ontario, where he passed away in 1888. His wife survived him for a consid- erable period, dying in 1912. They had a family of six children, four of whom are living: Dr. William B. Hopkins, a prominent physician and surgeon of Hamilton, Ontario; Dr. Marshall W. Hopkins, living at Edmonton, Canada; and Edward, of Hamilton.
The other surviving member of the family is Dr. Hopkins, of Denver, who attended school in Hamilton and afterward entered the University of Toronto, where he pur- sued his medical course and was graduated in 1893. He later attended lectures for post graduate work in London hospitals and at Edinburgh in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and in other clinics and hospitals in Great Britain. He
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DR. JOHN R. HOPKINS
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devoted some time each year to post graduate work for fourteen years and was a student at the clinics of the Drs. Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota. In 1907 he began going abroad for post graduate study in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and other European centers. In fact, he has put forth every possible effort to promote his knowledge and therehy increase his efficiency in professional work. He entered upon active practice at the age of twenty-two years and after following his profession in Canada until 1900 came to Denver, where he opened an office, and through the intervening period has won a place among the most eminent surgeons of the state. For fourteen years he has been one of two chief surgeons on the staff of St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver. He belongs to the Denver City and County Medical Society, the Colorado State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, is a life member of the Surgeons Club of Rochester, Minnesota, a member of the Anglo-American Medical Association of Berlin, and the American Medical Association of Vienna.
In 1895 Dr. Hopkins was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Sherk, of Ridgeway, Ontario, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Sherk, who are prominent people of that place. Dr. and Mrs. Hopkins have two children: Hazel, born in Canada, October 1, 1896, and a graduate of Colorado College of the class of 1918; and Hugh, who was born in Canada, November 1, 1899, and is now a sophomore in the University of Colorado.
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