USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume IV > Part 74
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On the 17th of May,. 1893, Mr. Brown was married in Denver to Miss Amy McBoyle, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Truman) McBoyle. Her father was born in Scotland and her mother in England and each came to the United States when quite small. They met and were married in La Salle, Illinois, and in 1865 came to Colorado, crossing the plains with ox teams. The father was a skilled machinist and followed his trade in Blackhawk, Colorado, until he was injured. He afterward purchased a relinquishment in Jefferson county, proved up on the property and secured title thereto. Later he went to Chicago, where he was operated on for the injury which he had previously sustained and in the operation passed away. His wife had
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died during the period that he was upon the farm. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born the following named: Truman Stout, who died at the age of twenty-one; Walter E., who is now in France with the One Hundred and Ninth Penn- sylvania Infantry; Rayburn A., who also joined the army but was discharged on account of disability due to an accident; Donald O; Quintin; Berenice; and Eunice.
In politics Mr. Brown maintains an independent course, voting for men and meas- ures rather than for party. He has served as school director but has never been an office seeker, concentrating his efforts and attention upon his business affairs. What- ever he bas achieved is the direct result of earnest, persistent effort, and that he is now one of the successful ranchmen of Adams county is a record of which he has every reason to be proud.
JERRY COULEHAN.
Jerry Couleban belonged to that class of representative pioneers to whom hard- ships and difficulties served as an impetus for renewed effort, and notwithstanding the privations of pioneer life he so directed his activities and interests that the years brought him a substantial measure of success. He was born in Ireland in 1839 but was only two years of age when brought by his parents to the United States. He lived for a number of years in Maryland, Ohio and Illinois, devoting the winter months to the acquirement of a public school education, while the summer seasons were given to farm labor until he had reached the age of fourteen years. Later he had the bene- fit of an eight months' course in the schools of Joliet, Illinois. In 1854-5 he was employed on the survey of the Rock Island Railway from Blue Island to Joliet, Illinois, and afterward went to Iowa City, Iowa, where he was employed by the Rock Island Railroad Company and at the same time carried on a transfer business.
In May, 1860, Mr. Coulehan arrived in Colorado and built the second house in Mill City, where he engaged in mining and in the grocery business, but after two years he lost his savings in the two enterprises. He next went to Omaha, where he spent the winter, but in the spring of 1861 returned with a load of provisions to Denver. For the first time he drove cattle and thus made the trip across the plains, going barefoot during a part of the journey. After storing his goods he went with his teams to Nevada, Colorado, where he cut pole timber and cordwood during the summer. In the fall he traded his cattle for mules and returned to the east, where he bought a load of groceries which be took to Colorado, selling them in the mountains at a profit of twelve hundred dollars. He afterward returned for another load, which he sold in Denver at a profit of four hundred dollars. Subsequently he made his way to Leavenworth, Kansas, and loaded eight wagons, each drawn by six yoke of oxen, with freight belonging to Jennings, Godby & Walker, his destination being Salt Lake City. He was also persuaded to take charge of forty wagons of freight likewise intended for Jennings, Godby & Walker, and at that time in the charge of a Mr. Howard. His teams were the only ones that safely reached Salt Lake that year, for the winter was very severe and it was almost impossible to travel. These teams were scattered along the road from Larimer Plains to Aco Canon and for about forty miles from the canon were in snow eighteen inches deep, it being necessary to have fifteen yoke of oxen to the team to pull through. They also found it necessary to fight the Indians from Blue River up to the Larimer Plains. On the 14th of December, however, Mr. Coule- han arrived in Salt Lake, where he spent the remiander of the winter in contract work on canals. Subsequently he bought a train and loaded it with flour for Virginia City, Montana, and from that point proceeded to Helena, Montana, after which he went down the Missouri river to meet the boats at the head of navigation at Fort Benton. There be bought freight which he hauled to Helena, where he sold it. Again he went to Salt Lake and loaded his wagon train for Virginia City, where he disposed of his goods and then returned to Salt Lake. From that point he proceeded to Los Angeles, California, for freight, making the return trip with goods to Salt Lake and to Helena and continuing to do business in that way until 1869. In the summer of 1868 he also put up hay at Fort Shaw, on Sun river, for the government, stacking as much as eight hundred tons. In the winter of 1869 he returned to Illinois but in the spring of 1870 made his way to Denver, where he began handling cattle, con- tinuing actively in that business until 1874, when he turned his attention to the agri- cultural implement business in partnership with Henry Lee. Their association was maintained for four years, at the end of which time Mr. Coulehan removed to a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, four and a half miles west of Denver, on West Forty-
JERRY COULEHAN.
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fourth avenue, then known as Jefferson avenue, and a mile west of Berkeley. Mr. Coulehan purchased the claim. which he converted into one of the valuable farm properties of the state. He brought his land under a very high state of cultivation and supplied it with adequate water, installing a complete system of ditches, with individual and perpetual water rights. He planted sixteen acres to fruit and one hundred acres to alfalfa, while the remainder of his land was devoted to the raising of grain and vegetables. He also made a specialty of raising fine hogs and cattle and all branches of his business proved profitable. He was likewise interested in mining, owning stock in the Ade Consolidated Mining Company, besides having interests in other properties.
On the 16th of February, 1874, Mr. Coulehan was united in marriage to Miss Catherine C. Mahan, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Thomas and Helen (Feley) Mahan. About the year 1855 her father made his way westward to Iowa and engaged in farming near Iowa City, where the family soon afterward joined him. The parents spent their remaining days in that state, where they were numbered among the pioneers and held membership in the Old Settlers' Society.
Mrs. Coulehan was educated in the public schools of Iowa City and in the State University and afterward became a teacher in the public schools. She is now prominent in those activities to which woman directs her efforts. She is an active member of the Catholic church, an honorary member of the Colorado Pioneers' Society and the second vice president of the Pioneers Ladies Aid Society. To Mr. and Mrs. Coulehan were born six children, of whom the only daughter died in infancy. The five sons are: John T., a railway engineer; M. J., a contractor; Robert E., a ranchman living in Wyoming; Leo C., an expert accountant. now in the military service of his country as a brigade sergeant in the Cactus Division; and William J., who is in charge of the home place.
Mr. Coulehan departed this life May 22, 1899. Of Catholic faith, he was a devout churchman. He was exceedingly charitable and was actively interested in the estab- lishment and welfare of St. Joseph's Hospital and of the Orphans' Home. He gave freely of his means to assist in various benevolent projects and as he prospered in his undertakings his charities were proportionately greater. There was no feature of pioneer life in Colorado with which he was not familiar and with the gradual development and growth of the sections in which he lived he was closely and help- fully associated.
ROBERT B. MONTGOMERY.
Stock interests in Boulder county, Colorado, are ably represented by Robert B. Montgomery, a successful agriculturist having a valuable farm property near Lyons, on section 21. A native of Iowa, he was born in Marion county October 28, 1848, a son of William and Mary (Dawson) Montgomery, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Virginia. In his younger days the father was a sailor and early in the development of that state he removed to Iowa and there engaged in farming in Marion county, where he acquired land which he operated for many years and upon which he placed many improvements, In the '80s he sold and came to Boulder county, where he bought a small place of forty acres near Hygiene. He subsequently sold this property and made his home with his son, Alexander M., in Lyons until his death. His wife has also passed away.
In the acquirement of his education Robert B. Montgomery attended school in Marion county and early assisted his father in the management of the farm there. In 1867, however, at the age of nineteen, he started across the plains with a mule team, headed for Colorado, walking most of the way. The trip consumed forty-one days before Boulder county was reached and was fraught with dangers and hard- ships. For a while he worked out by the month but subsequently bought a farm on the Little Thompson and there engaged in the live stock business for a number of years and to good purpose but finally sold out and acquired his present place of eighty acres. He has brought his land to a high state of cultivation and has in many ways improved the property. He has set out four hundred apple trees, now deriving from this source a gratifying addition to his income, and moreover, has put up suit- able buildings and instituted modern equipment until now his is considered one of the valuable properties of the neighborhood.
In 1883 Mr. Montgomery was united in marriage to Miss Clara Chapman and to them were born eight children, of whom Pearl has passed away. She was the wife
MR. AND MRS. ROBERT B. MONTGOMERY
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of Thomas Wallace, by whom she had three children, her death occurring in the spring of 1912. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery are: Frank R., a resident of Fort Collins, Colorado; Florence, who married Albert Schwilke, of Estes Park, Colorado; Arthur E., residing at Longmont; Charles E., who has joined the colors and is with the American Expeditionary Forces in France; Iva and C. Orvis, at home; and Ruth, who married L. Comstock, of Longmont.
Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery are among the most respected pioneer couples of Boul- der county and all are agreed as to their high qualities of heart and mind. Their religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they helpfully assist. Politically Mr. Montgomery is a democrat but although he keeps thoroughly informed in regard to the public questions of the day he has never been an office seeker, preferring to devote his whole attention to his private interests. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the Lyons organization, and has many friends among its members, Mrs. Montgomery belonging to the Rebekah lodge. He is a public-spirited, progressive agriculturist and citizen and has attained an honorable position in life entirely through his own efforts, thus being entitled to the proud American title of a self-made man. Move- ments for public improvement have ever received his support and he is never a lag- gard when the public weal hangs in the balance.
THOMAS KNEALE.
Thomas Kneale, busily engaged in the work of tilling the soil and caring for his stock upon an excellent farm in Boulder county, is of Manx nativity, his birth having occurred on the Isle of Man, May 17, 1852, his parents being John and Ann (Christian) Kneale, who were also of Manx birth. The father passed away on his native isle, after which the mother came to the new world, settling in Colorado in 1876. Her re- maining days were here passed, her death occurring in 1912 at the home of her son Thomas. In their family were eleven children, four of whom are living.
Thomas Kneale was reared and educated on the Isle of Man and came to America in 1872, when a young man of twenty years. He first settled in Jefferson county, Colorado, where he engaged in the lumber business and in freighting. He followed this business for twelve years and then went to Wyoming, where he engaged in the live stock business for three years. In 1888 he purchased the farm in Boulder county whereon he now resides, acquiring title to two hundred and forty acres. Irrigation has converted the land into a rich and productive tract, for he has the entire place under the ditch. He has worked carefully, systematically and scientifically in the cultivation of his crops and has greatly improved the property by the erection of fine buildings, making this one of the attractive farms of Boulder county. In addition he owns a stock ranch of thirteen hundred acres above Eldorado Springs on the South Boulder, on which he is extensively engaged in running stock. In all business affairs he displays sound judgment and unfaltering enterprise and his determined purpose, guided by keen sagacity, has brought to him substantial success. He is likewise a stockholder in the Colorado Alfalfa Milling Company, of which he was manager for ten years. This company operates mills at Ordway, Broomfield, Eastlake and Niwot, Colorado, and at Riverton, Wyoming.
Mr. Kneale was married in Jefferson county, Colorado, to Miss Georgiana Hat- field, who was born in Shelbyville, Illinois, a daughter of George W. and Ann (Rob- inson) Hatfield, the former a native of Ohio, while the latter was born in New Jersey. Mr. Hatfield removed to Denver, Colorado, in 1859, when the beautiful capital city was a tiny mining hamlet, composed of tents and a few log cabins. Like the others who had come to the state in that early period, he engaged in mining during the first year of his residence here, but in 1860 he returned to Illinois. He then started across the plains with an ox team, accompanied by his family, and proceeding by slow stages, according to that method of travel, three months had elapsed before he could complete the trip. He then located in Denver, where he engaged in the butchering business, and both he and his wife passed away in that city. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Kneale had a family of ten children, but lost three in infancy. The others are: Ethel, the wife of Clyde Carson, of Boulder county; Edith, the wife of First Lieutenant James I. Davis, who is now in France with Company B, of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Field Signal Corps; Charles Albert, who is now in France with the same command; Harriet I., the wife of Clarence E. Jessee, of Boulder county; Walter, who was drowned in the Six-Mile
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reservoir when twenty-four years of age; Thomas A., who is farming the home place; and Dora, who is now attending college in Fort Collins. The sons are members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Kneale belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is a loyal follower of the lodge. He is a democrat in politics and his fellow citizens, recogniz- ing his worth and ability, have frequently called him to public office. He now is democratic committeeman and has for several years served in this position. More- over, he has done faithful duty as justice of the peace, for four years served as water commissioner of his district and for nine years was a member of the school board. Ever deeply loyal and patriotic, he served as chairman of the Liberty Loan campaign. being captain of his district, and also was connected with the United War Workers, while Mrs. Kneale was actively and officially connected with Red Cross work. Both he and his wife are consistent and loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are held in the highest esteem, their worth being widely acknowledged by all with whom they have come in contact. Mr. Kneale, outside of his extensive farming interests, is a stockholder in the Farmers Life Insurance Company of Denver. The business opportunities offered in the new world have enabled him to work his way steadily upward since he started out in life empty-handed. Obstacles and difficulties in his path have served as an impetus for renewed effort on his part and his determi- nation and energy have brought him to an enviable position among representatives of agricultural as well as business interests in Boulder county and Denver.
HENRY ALLISON.
Henry Allison, a stone mason of Canon City and also the owner of fine ranch property nearby, was born in Yorkshire, England, in March, 1850. He spent the first twenty years of his life in his native country and came to America in 1870, at which time he took up his abode in Pennsylvania. After two years' residence in the east he arrived in Denver, Colorado, in the summer of 1872, and later removed to Central City, while at a subsequent period he went to Georgetown. Identified with mining interests there, he met with considerable success, advancing far on the highroad to prosperity.
In 1873 Mr. Allison returned to England and was there married to Miss Ann Lee in her old home in Yorkshire. They became the parents of six daughters, of whom five are living, and two sons. Of these, three of the daughters are married, as are the sons, and there are seven grandchildren. One daughter, Blanche V. Allison, has for some years occupied an important position in connection with the county court.
Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Allison began their domestic life in their native land, but in 1881 returned with their family to the new world and settled first in Pennsylvania, while in 1882 Mr. Allison again became a resident of Colorado. Here he took up the occupation of farming and also followed the trade of a stone mason. For eight years he lived at Leadville and for twenty-eight years has made his home in Cañon City, where he still works at his trade and also gives his super- vision to the conduct of a fine ranch near the town which he owns. Opportunity, of which he has eagerly availed himself, has opened for him the door of success and he is now one of the substantial residents of Canon City.
EMMET A. BROMLEY.
Emmet A. Bromley, a Colorado capitalist living at Brighton, although his business interests keep him much of the time in Denver, has at different periods been closely associated with ranching and stock-raising interests, with dairying, with the develop- ment of oil lands and with banking. As the years have passed he has made extensive and judicious investments in both farm property and city real estate, from which he derives a gratifying annual income. His life record is the story of earnest endeavor and brings to mind the statement of Carlyle that those things which are difficulties in the path of the weak often become stepping-stones to the strong.
Mr. Bromley is a native of Peru, Clinton county, New York. He was born Feb- ruary 14, 1858, a son of John B. and Roxey Ann (Ayers) Bromley. His ancestors in both the maternal and paternal lines arrived at Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1647
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and the families have been well represented in the Revolutionary and Civil wars. The founder of the Bromley family in America came to the new world from Bromley, England, a town that has since been absorbed by the growth of London.
Emmet A. Bromley attended school in his birthplace and in Plattsburg. He was left an orphan when but nine years of age, after which he lived with relatives until he reached the age of fifteen, when he started out in life on his own account. He went to work ou a steamboat on Lake Champlain, being thus employed for two years, and afterward occupied a position in a clothing store in Burlington, Vermont, for a similar period. On the 24th of April, 1877, however, he left the Green Mountain state and crossed the continent to Denver, Colorado, where he was employed for a year. He then purchased some cattle and rented a farm, after which he engaged in the dairy business. Prospering in his undertakings, in 1883 he bought two hundred acres of land near Brighton and has since managed that property, together with six hun- dred acres of dry land situated east of his ranch. He was also engaged in the sheep business and at one time he owned eight thousand acres of dry land. He has traded all of his ranch property, however, for Denver property and his holdings of city real estate are extensive and valuable, returning to him a gratifying annual income. He is likewise the president of the Gibraltar Oil Company, to which he devotes much of his time, and he is a director of the First National Bank of Brighton.
On the 24th of December, 1892, Mr. Bromley was married in Golden to Miss Anna Dickson, a daughter of Thomas and Margaret Dickson. Mrs. Bromley was born in Canada, where her ancestors settled at an early day. In her girlhood she crossed the plains with her parents and the family home was established at Henderson, Colorado, where her father and mother resided until called to their final rest. To Mr. and Mrs. Bromley were born six children of whom the following are living: Maria, who was educated in the St. Gertrude Seminary and is now at home; Emmet, Jr., who attended Wolfe Hall; and Clinton Enos and John D., who were educated at Boulder.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Episcopal church and in his fra- ternal relations Mr. Bromley is a Mason, loyally adhering to the teachings of the craft. He is a past master of his lodge and is much interested in the work of the or- ganization. In politics he is an earnest republican and a recognized leader in the party ranks. He served as state representative from his district in the eighth and ninth general assemblies and gave careful and earnest consideration to all the vital questions that came up for consideration during that period. He was also state senator during the eleventh and twelfth assemblies, a fact indicative of the faithful service which he had previously rendered. He left the impress of his individuality upon the laws enacted during his connection with both the upper and lower houses. He is the father of the law providing for the loaning of state school funds to farmers and thus he has contributed in large measure to the material development of the agricultural interests of Colorado. For twelve years he was clerk of the district court in Brighton and his official record, like that of his private life, is one over which there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. He is a man of broad vision and public spirit, of high ideals and of successful achievement.
JAMES AUGUSTUS WIRE.
James Augustus Wire, one of Brighton's enterprising business men, where he is engaged in the sale of farm implements, was born near Winslow, Illinois, on the 30th of July, 1873, a son of Jasper A. and Emily (Thorpe) Wire. The father was a Civil war veteran.
The son pursued his education in the district schools near Winslow and after- ward was graduated from the Aurora Business College at Aurora, Illinois. He then took up the occupation of farming, which he followed in his native county for four years. About that time, or in 1898, Mr. Wire was united in marriage to Miss Lula Denny, who passed away in 1909.
Mr. Wire on his removal to Colorado in 1898 settled at Littleton, where for one year he engaged in farming. He then took up his abode in Brighton establishing him- self in the livery business, to which he soon added feed and coal, and for a few years teaming and contract work. In 1912 he began the implement business, which he is now conducting. He is otherwise connected with the business interests of the town, being the owner of the opera house block and considerable other property. Deeply inter-
JAMES A. WIRE
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ested in everything that pertains to the welfare and progress of the community he gives active aid and cooperation to all movements for the general good. He has a beautiful home of the bungalow type on West Park avenue containing eight rooms. It stands amid attractive surroundings and one of its most pleasing features is its warm-hearted hospitality.
On the 23d of February, 1911, Mr. Wire was again married, his second union being with Miss Lillian Rice of Hays, Kansas. She is a daughter of James R. and Lenora (Sutton) Rice, who are very progressive farming people of Kansas, in which state Mrs. Wire was born in Ellis county. She came to Colorado in 1910. She has a brother, G. W. Rice, who is now in France; and a brother-in-law who is a physician, Captain Arthur B. Gjellum, who is also on active duty with the national army, while his two sisters are Red Cross nurses.
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