USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume IV > Part 8
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MRS. IDA L. GREGORY
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pists and others and in the end it was taken over by the board of education of Denver. This constituted, however, the initial step in night schools in Denver.
Mrs. Gregory had charge of the University School of Music from 1900 to 1910 and dur- ing this period became the active assistant of Judge Lindsey. She had been appointed probation officer in 1903 and this gave her excellent opportunity to study the youth of the city, to learn of his environment, his temptations and his needs. In 1906 she was ap- pointed chief probation officer and assistant judge and in 1907 she was appointed clerk of the Denver Juvenile court, in which capacity she is still serving. In this connection she became the active assistant of Judge Lindsey, sitting with him upon the bench in all cases relative to delinquent boys, girls and women. These cases are tried in the utmost privacy with only the parents present. Mrs. Gregory has the distinction of being the first woman in the United States to receive an appointment of associate judgeship and often in the absence of Judge Lindsey she presides over such cases, taking full charge of the court and carrying on the work fully as well as the judge. Her keen insight into child nature has made her invaluable and Judge Lindsey accepts with implicit confidence her decisions in the cases she handles. She has sat with him in thousands of cases relating to chil- dren and has acquired a fund of information in regard to juvenile court work in all of its ramifications which makes her one of the authorities in this much studied field.
It was on the 26th of October, 1881, in Indianapolis, that Ida L. Sturdavent was mar- ried to Thomas Gregory and she has a daughter, Maud Sturdavent Gregory, who is now in the employ of the government in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Gregory was the first presi- dent of the Colorado Arts Club, belongs also to the Wednesday Current Events Club and to the Poets & Artists Club of Colorado. Her religious faith is that of the Divine Science church. Her religious belief actuates her at every point in all of her busy life. Mrs .. Gregory conceived the idea and was the main factor in organizing the Colorado Junior Reserves, the pioneer organization of its kind in the United States. The Denver Times, on May 17, 1918, editorially said in part: "The proposed organization will be known as the Colorado Junior Reserves. Plans to give every boy between the ages of sixteen and eighteen a course of training under efficient drill-masters to be appointed by Adjutant- General Baldwin, that cannot fail to be healthful for them. And to build their character, to give them initiative and self-confidence, to inspire them with patriotism, to mold them at the formative stage of life into strong virile men, assets to their community. These things they will be blessed with even though the call of war never comes to them. * * * * Credit for the idea should go to Mrs. Gregory, a pioneer in work among Denver boys. It is constructive effort of the kind that Colorado's sister states will watch and emulate. And it is one more step the state will have taken toward bringing this war to the quickest possible conclusion."
Who can measure her usefulness or indicate the true force of her example? Sympa- thetic, kindly, gentle and yet firm when occasion requires, she has dealt with thousands of children, winning their confidence and starting many a one on the road to higher and better things. She is a believer in the goodness of every individual and has closely fol- lowed the admonition of Browning: "Awake the little seeds of good asleep throughout the world."
MARTIN HERSTROM.
The record of Martin Herstrom is the history of one who through successive steps has advanced from newsboy to the ownership of one of the largest forge plants west of the Mississippi. He is entitled to considerable credit and distinction for what he has accomplished. With borrowed capital he has more than made good and is one of the best known foundrymen and forge owners in the west. He was born in Chicago, January 10, 1870, a son of Martin and Anna ( (Kopen) Herstrom, who were natives of Herstrom Hall, Norway. They came to America in early life, settling in Chicago, and in 1880 removed to Denver, where the death of the father occurred in 1885, while the mother survived until 1913. They had a family of six children: Martin, of this review; Mrs. C. T. Wright, of Huntington, Indiana; Haakon, of Denver; Mrs. Harry Dickson, of Fort Scott, Kansas; Thomas, who was killed in a wreck on the Union Pacific Railroad in 1906, being a fireman on that road; and Louis, of Seattle, Washington, who is connected with the Seattle Union Record.
Brought to Denver when a lad of ten years, Martin Herstrom pursued his early education in the Broadway school and subsequently attended college. He later worked on the Republican and the Tribune and then began learning the blacksmith's trade. Ad- vancing in that connection, he became foreman in the shops of the Burlington Railroad
MARTIN HERSTROM
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Company and occupied that responsible position for a number of years, it bringing to him broad and valuable experience. Anxious to engage in business on his own account, he organized the American Forge Works. By 1904 he had progressed as far as it was possible on a salary basis and he therefore decided to begin business on his own account, so with a borrowed capital of seventy-five dollars he made the initial step in the establish- ment of what has since developed into one of the largest forge plants in the west and one of the best equipped in the country. He employs a force of thirty-five men, working night and day on government work at the present time. He has always been accorded a liberal patronage and his business has long since reached profitable proportions. He has one of the most modern forge plants west of New York. The output is in demand in all parts of the world, particularly in connection, with heavy mining machinery, manu- facturing forged steel shoes, dies and balls for ball mills. His work has ever been characterized by the utmost thoroughness and his energy and determination have enabled him to overcome all obstacles and difficulties in his path and make his way steadily upward to success, his patronage growing year by year.
On the 28th of December, 1892, in Denver, Mr. Herstrom was married to Miss Metta Rose, of Denver, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Monteville Rose, representing a well known family of Denver and Missouri in which state Mrs. Herstrom was born at Sturgeon. They have become parents of four children. Merle Rose, born in Denver, is a high school graduate. Martin, Jr., born in Denver, May 13, 1900, was also graduated from the high school and is chief bugler on the United States Battleship Delaware and was on active duty in France with the marines and on the North sea. He sounded the bugle at the visit of King George and Queen Mary to the Grand Fleet, assembled for the auspicious occasion in the North sea. Emily Phyllis, born in Denver, is a noted toe dancer and as representative of her art has traveled throughout the country. She is now attending Mrs. Speer's exclusive school for girls, learning French and Spanish. Dorothy Fain, born in Denver is still a pupil in the public schools.
In politics Mr. Herstrom maintains an independent course. Fraternally he is a Mason of high rank and a member of the Mystic Shrine and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At the early age of fourteen he was the champlon roller skater at Belmont and Hanson's rink at Denver, and won the seventy-five mile race open to all, covering over seventy-five miles in six hours which at that time was a world's record. Mr. Herstrom is also prominent socially, having organized the Silver Leaf Social Club and the Shakespeare Literary and Dehating Society. His religious faith is that of the Christian Science church. Guided by a sane philosophy of life, actuated by a laudable ambition and characterized by a determined purpose, Martin Herstrom, who began earning his living by selling papers, is today a prominent representative of industrial activity in Colorado's capital.
ADAM WOEBER.
Adam Woeber, builder of wagons, carriages, street cars and automobiles, in which connection he has developed a business of extensive proportions, is still active along this line although he has now passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, in April, 1837, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Alois Woeber, who were likewise natives of Bavaria, whence they came to America in 1840, when their son Adam was but three years of age. They settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the father took up work at the blacksmith's trade, which he had previously learned and followed in his native land. He remained in Cincinnati until 1853, when he removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in the early '60s. His wife passed away in Davenport in 1872. In their family were five children.
Adam Woeber, the youngest of the household, was a pupil in the public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio, after which he learned the moulder's trade and in 1853 he accom- panied his parents on their removal to Davenport, Iowa, where he learned the trade of wagon and carriage making. This he followed from 1853 until 1867 in Iowa, when he left the Mississippi valley and made his way across the plains to Denver, Colorado. When he had found a suitable location he established a wagon and carriage making plant, having brought his stock and men with him from Iowa. He succeeded so well in the new undertaking that he has remained in the business to this day. In 1882 he built all of the street cars for Denver, Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, Pueblo, Colo- rado Springs and Fort Collins, Colorado. The Woeber Company has built practically all of the cars since that time for the Denver Traction Company and of recent years
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Mr. Woeber has devoted much attention to automobile manufacturing. Himself an expert workman, he has been enabled to wisely direct the labors of those in his em- ploy and has developed his plant along the most progressive lines, equipping it with the latest improved machinery.
In 1854, at Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Woeber was married to Miss Gertrude Hommes, who passed away in Denver in 1900. In the family were four children of whom three are living, Rudolph L., Josephine and Clara.
Mr. Woeber remains still a very active and well balanced business man, retaining the vigor of one of middle age. In politics he is independent and from 1870 until 1872 was an alderman of Denver. He has ever been keenly interested in the welfare and upbuilding of the city in which he has so long made his home, having removed to Denver during the pioneer epoch in its development, and through all of the inter- vening years he has cooperated heartily in every project for the general good. He is a devout communicant of St. Elizabeth's Catholic church.
CONVERSE C. BARNET.
Converse C. Barnet is today district manager of the Toledo Scale Company, manufacturers of counter and heavy capacity scales. Ohio numbers Mr. Barnet among her native sons, his birth having occurred in Camden, that state, on the 26th of November, 1867. His father, William Barnet, also born in Ohio, belonged to one of the old families of that state and of Pennsylvania that came of French ancestry. The founder of the American branch of the family settled in the new world prior to the Revolutionary war and the family was represented in the colonial army in the struggle for independence. William Barnet, the father, was for many years senior partner in the firm of Barnet & Whiteside, who were engaged in the manu- facture of flour, and in sheep and cattle raising at Camden, Ohio. He became very prominent in that section. At the time of the Civil war he put aside all business and personal considerations in order to respond to the country's call for troops, enlisting in an Ohio company. He was engaged in active duty along the Maryland and Ohio borders. When the country no longer needed his ald he resumed his business activities and made for himself an enviable position in agricultural and manufacturing circles. He was born in 1833 and had therefore reached the age of seventy-eight years when he passed away in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 31, 1911. He had married Celia Amanda Duggins, whose name was originally spelled Duggan. She was born in Ohio, August 16, 1837, and is descended from Irish ancestry, the family being established in New England at a very early day, while later representatives of the name became pioneer settlers of Ohio and Indiana. Mrs. Barnet survives her husband and is living in Cincinnati, Ohio. By her marriage she became the mother of five children but only two are now living, Converse C. and Bertha.
The former pursued his education in the public and high schools of Eaton, Ohio, being graduated with the class of 1885. The following year he was a student in the Richmond Business College of Richmond, Indiana, from which he was graduated, and he later attended the Longley Business College of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he completed a course by graduation in 1888. On the 1st of January, 1887, he had become identified with the Eaton Manufacturing Company of Eaton, Ohio, having charge of the clerical force. He continued there for eighteen months, after which he completed his preparation for a business career as a student in the Longley Business College of Cincinnati. After leaving that school he entered the office of the Frisco Railroad Company at Cincinnati in the commercial agent's department, there remaining for several months. He was afterward with the Pullman Palace Car Company as assistant to the manager in the Cincinnati office and continued in the Pullman service for a year and a half. He next removed to Sidney, Ohio, and was associated with the Sidney School Furniture Company, having charge of the sales force from the spring of 1890 until the spring of 1893. This was his first commercial experience along salesman- ship and constituted his initial step to his present success. He afterward served as a salesman with the company from 1893 until 1897 and later was in the furniture business with the Miner & Moore Furniture Company of Cincinnati, as salesman, from 1897 until 1899. He then returned to Sidney and was a salesman with the Sidney School Furniture Company until March, 1899, when he entered the employ of the National Cash Register Company, being given charge of the prospective business department, a very important department of the service. He remained in that con- nection, largely developing the trade of the house, until the spring of 1906, when he Vol. IV-5
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entered into active connection with S. F. Bowser & Company, Incorporated, at Toronto, Canada, having charge of the Canadian traveling force. He there remained for a year in that connection. He served the company consecutively as sales manager, field superintendent and district manager, having been made district manager for Colorado on the 1st of January, 1913. He made a most creditable record during his six years' connection with this position and as district manager he built up for the company a business of extensive proportions in the sale of gasoline oil tanks, pumps and storage systems. He had his headquarters in the Gas and Electric building in Denver. He now is district manager of the Toledo Scale Company.
On the 23d of August, 1893, Mr. Barnet was married in Troy, Ohio, to Miss Jean MacKinzie, a native of that place, daughter of James and Lydia (Robbins) MacKinzie. Mr. and Mrs. Barnet have one child, Corinne, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 15, 1895.
Mr. Barnet is connected with the Knights of Pythias. He holds membership also in the Denver Civic and Commercial Association and is an associate member of the Denver Manufacturers Association, thus being active in promoting interests of value in connection with the upbuilding and improvement of the city and the extension of its trade relations. He helongs to the First Baptist church, in the work of which he takes an active and helpful part. His various connections have been the motive force of his continued advancement in business life until his position today is one that places him in the front rank of the business men of the city. He is most energetic and determined in all that he undertakes and never stops short of the successful accomplishment of his purpose.
A. NEWTON PATTON.
Knowledge of the law with ability to accurately apply its principles has made A. Newton Patton a prominent attorney at the Denver bar as a specialist in bonds and pub- lic and corporation securities, while business acumen in other directions has led to his selection as the president of The Denver Title Guarantee Company. He is actively identi- fied with interests having to do with the upbuilding of the city of Denver and the pros- perity of the state. A substantial proportion of Denver's and Colorado's citizenship came from Ohio and to this class A. Newton Patton helongs. He was born in Highland, Ohio, on the 18th day of July, 1867. His parents were Andrew Newton and Mary Mccullough (Fairley) Patton. His earlier ancestors were natives of Kentucky, belonging to the earliest settlers of that state, whither they migrated from Virginia, and originally from England and Scotland. His father served in a judicial capacity in Ohio for over twenty years and was prominent with the legal profession until his death. He had attained the venerable age of eighty-seven years when he passed away in 1899. Both Mr. Patton's par- ents were educated in Ohio. Their family numbered nine children, of whom A. Newton Patton of this review is the youngest. One of his brothers, James F. Patton, enlisted for service in the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil war when he was only sixteen years of age and was assigned to a regiment stationed on the frontiers of Wyoming to protect the government telegraph lines from the Indian raids. He was stationed at Fort Laramie and Fort Casper, Wyoming, in 1863 and while repairing and guarding the tele- graph lines in the Sweetwater district, which had been cut by a party of Sioux Indians on the warpath, he was shot, the bullet piercing the right lung and going clear through his body. Of fourteen men who were sent out on that particular expedition only three re- turned alive, one of these being "Jim" Patton. After careful examination by the post surgeon his case was pronounced hopeless and he was given until the next morning to live. He secured a number of morphine tablets prescribed by the army surgeon and in the absence of his attendant he took a greater number of these to relieve his paln than had been prescribed. Immediately he fell into a deep sleep, from which he awoke just seventy-two hours afterward. While he was in that condition his wound was kept thor- oughly cleansed by the crude method of a clean cloth being used to clear out the wound by passing it entirely through his body, and from the time he awakened his condition began to improve and in eleven months he had entirely recovered. He had scarcely re- gained his normal condition when he was again accidentally shot by a soldier cleaning his gun, this time in the abdomen, and once more he was given up to die, but his almost superhuman strength enabled him to weather this crisis also. Surgeons from various sections pronounced both wounds incurable. Not another one out of thousands of simi- lar cases known to surgery had ever survived, his last wound being very similar to that
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A. NEWTON PATTON
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which caused the death of President James A. Garfield. Mr. J. F. Patton is still living, making his home in Ohio, and is today enjoying fairly good health.
In early life A. Newton Patton of this review attended the public and high schools, of Greenfield, Ohio, from which he graduated. He then came to Denver and entered the law department of the University of Denver as a law student, matriculating in 1893. He had the honor of being the first law student to matriculate in that institution, so that his name is the very first one on the register of representatives of the bar who are numbered among the alumni of the University of Denver. He began practice immediately after graduation, and has since become an authority on bond, title and trust laws. He has specialized along that line in his practice and has developed ability in that field of jurisprudence. His opinions are recognized as authority on questions of that char- acter. In 1914 he organized The Denver Title Guarantee Company, of which he has since become the president. This is now one of the leading corporations of its kind in Colorado. He is also attorney for a number of mining, irrigation and industrial corporations.
On the 12th of October, 1898, Mr. Patton was united in marriage to Miss Lucia Cas- sell, of Denver, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Cassell, well known and promi- nent people of the city, identified with Denver's interests from pioneer times and es- pecially with the temperance and reform work of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Patton are proud of their three children. Lucia Cassell Patton, born in Denver in 1900, a graduate of the North Denver high school and who was a student in the University of Colorado, Is at present teacher of French, Spanish and mathematics in the Kiefer, Oklahoma, high school. Marietta Elizabeth, born in Denver in 1902, is a senior in the North Denver high school; and Newton Cassell Patton, born in Denver in 1906, is now attending the Aaron Gove school of Denver. The religious faith of the family for many generations has been that of the Presbyterian church. In social circles they occupy a highly respected posi- tion.
Mr. Patton is identified with various fraternal organizations, belonging to the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of The Maccabees, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Junior Order of American Mechanics. Along strictly professional lines he is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado State Bar Association and the Denver Bar Association, being an ex-president of the last. He is also connected with the Civic and Commercial Association. His political endorsement has ever been given to the republican party and for nine successive years he served as a member of the council of the city and county of Denver. He was a member of the committee which organized the department of building and loan associations of the state of Colorado. In the republican primary election of 1918 he was one of his party's candidates for district judge of the second ju- dicial district, within and for the city and county of Denver. Mr. Patton has always stood loyally for the best interests and activities in society and state affairs and the ability which he has displayed and prominence to which he has attained in business circles enable him to speak with authority, while his support of any proposition secures to it a large following.
JACOB D. GUMAER.
Jacob D. Gumaer is the general manager of the Parlin & Orendorff Plow Company at its large branch house in Denver and he is regarded as one of the most popular men in the implement trade in the Mountain States country, while Denver classes him as an honored and respected citizen. He has made his home in the Queen City of the Plains for many years and is therefore widely known. He was born in Sullivan county, New York, April 21, 1857, and is a son of Peter and Esther (Smith) Gumaer, both of whom were born in the Empire state, where they were reared, educated and married. The father engaged in the manufacture of flour on his own account for many years and passed away in New York, after which his widow removed to Kansas, where her last days were spent. They had a family of five children.
Jacob D. Gumaer of this review was the third in order of birth in the family and in early life was a pupil in the public schools of Sullivan and Tompkins counties in New York. In the latter county he also attended the Monticello Academy and following his graduation from that institution he went to New York city, where he entered the wholesale grocery business, continuing actively in that line for three years. He came to Colorado, March 29, 1879, locating in Denver, and immediately secured a position with the firm of Hartig & Patch, with whom he remained for two years. In 1881 he went
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to Kansas City and entered into the farm implement business with the Smith-Keating Implement Company and became the traveling representative of the house. For nine years he was manager of the Racine-Sattley Company of Denver and Kansas City, Mis- souri, for the states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Kansas. He returned to Denver in July, 1901, to take over the management of the Parlin & Orendorff Plow Com- pany, Denver branch. This is one of the largest farm implement manufacturing con- cerns and plow companies of the west. They have a very extensive plant in Denver, requiring a man of long experience, wide knowledge and ability to carefully direct its interests. Mr. Gumaer thoroughly understands every phase of the business, the value of the mechanical construction of its output and at the same time his long experience in salesmanship splendidly qualifies him for the management of that branch of the business-the introduction of its goods to the trade and the development of its patronage. Mr. Gumaer's business record covers thirty-five years of intense activity intelligently directed. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his time and talents. He has at different periods been connected with leading implement houses of the country and every change that he has made has indicated a marked step in advance. He has telegrams in his possession indicating the regret of a house that was losing his services and also telegrams from other houses desiring to at once seal the contract that would secure his services. His name is indeed a well known one in implement trade circles of the west and he is very popular among the men engaged in this line of business. In 1917 he was elected to the office of president of the Hardware, Implement and Paint Club and made the opening address at the convention of the State Hardware Implement Dealers' Association in January, 1918.
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