USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 62
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1
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
years. Influenced by failing health he decided, in 1870, to try the effects of the climate of Colorado on his ailment, asthma, and therefore came to Golden, Jefferson county, where he spent seven years in the nursery business in connection with market garden- ing and fruit growing, regaining his health in the meantime. In 1877 he moved to Larimer county, for the purpose of constructing the Louden canal, of which company he has since been either secretary or president. At the same time he purchased and has since improved farm lands and is the owner of several farms in Larimer county, also of a fine resi- dence in Loveland. In 1882 he became interested in the Bank of Loveland (now the Loveland Na- tional bank) and was elected president of its board of directors in 1883, a position he held until Jan- uary, 1911, when he declined to accept re-election on account of failing health. On his retirement from the presidency a committee was appointed from among his colleagues in the directorate to draft resolutions expressive of their sentiments on his re- tirement, which reported for the stockholders the following: "That the stockholders of the Love- land National bank in acceding to the request of Mr. A. S. Benson to be relieved of further duties in the presidency and directorate of the bank ex- press their deep regret at the necessity for the sev- erance of these relations, and we take this action only in deference to Mr. Benson's request most positively expressed. That we recognize the past success of the Bank of Loveland and the Loveland National bank, its present success, as well as other enterprises with which Mr. Benson was so closely identified, as in a large measure due to his breadth of vision and the business integrity, energy and faithfulness which he brought to bear in their man- agement. That we sincerely hope the relief now granted from these responsibilities may contribute to Mr. Benson's health and comfort, and that as a community we may enjoy his neighborly, Christian fellowship and wise counsels .- W. H. McCreery, F. N. B. Scott, W. H. McCormick, committee." Mr. Benson's first wife, Eliza (Cleghorn) Benson, died in 1862, leaving three children, Perry, Mary, wife of J. A. Lewis, and Charles. In 1864 he was united in marriage with Marion Vanderburgh of New York. Four children have blessed this union, Clarence V. Benson, ex-County Judge of Larimer county and now head clerk of the Pacific jurisdic- tion of the Woodmen of the World; Velma V., wife of Alfred Beebe; Franc V., wife of J. I. Lan- ham, and Aaron V. Benson, cashier of the Love- land National bank. The family is identified with
the Baptist church. Fraternally our subject is a Master Mason and a member of the B. P. O. Elks. Politically he is a republican. While a citizen of Jefferson county, Mr. Benson was for three years a member of the board of County Commissioners of that county. Through his business methods, county warrants advanced from fifty cents on the dollar to par within a year and a half after he took his seat on the board, with a lower tax rate. A court house was built while he was on the board without exceeding the estimated cost. From Jan- uary, 1880, to January, 1883, he served Larimer county as a member of its board of commissioners, and in the fall of 1882 he was elected to represent the county in the Fourth General assembly of Colo- rado, which met in Denver in January, 1883. In this capacity he introduced and secured the passage and approval of an act appropriating funds for a Mechanical Engineering department at the Colo- rado Agriculural college; also an act securing to that institution a perpetual 1-5 mill tax for its support. In the fall of 1885 he was re-elected County Commissioner and during his second term the court house was built without the cost exceed- ing the amount appropriated for the construction. At one time Mr. Benson was a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and has served 22 years altogether as school director since he came to Colorado. He has always been a warm friend of popular education and favors any plan whereby the educational interests of the state may be pro- moted and fostered.
PHILLIP COVINGTON, though born at, or near, the dawn of the Nineteenth century and living more than half a score of years beyond the allotted period of man, Phillip Covington's whole life was spent on the frontier, being one of those sturdy men who have ever acted as the advance guard of civilization in beating back the savages and in subduing the wilderness. Mr. Covington was born Dec. 21st, 1803, in Hannibal county, North Carolina. At the age of five years his father's family moved to Ken- tucky, then a new and sparsely settled region, where young Phillip grew to manhood, receiving only such educational advantages as were afforded in the dis- trict schools of the period. He left the paternal roof soon after attaining his majority and struck out for the West, bringing up at St. Louis, Missouri, then a straggling frontier town. Here, in 1827, he engaged with the American Fur company to make a trip to what is now known as the Green River country in Wyoming, with Captain Sublette, the
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
company's western agent. Eighty-four years ago this little band of mountaineers and trappers, with a long train of pack animals, loaded down with goods to exchange with the Indians for furs, slowly wended its way up the Cache la Poudre valley and on through Virginia Dale and across the Laramie Plains to one of the fur company's outposts on Green river, where the cargo of trinkets was dis-
PHILLIP COVINGTON
charged. Captain Sublette and his party of pack- ers returned to St. Louis in 1828, where the men were paid off and discharged. The following year Mr. Covington returned to Kentucky, where, April 2, 1829, he was married. Shortly after the wedding the young couple emigrated to northwest Missouri, where they lived until 1875, when they followed their children to Greeley, making their home with their son, Marshall M. Covington. In 1878 they came to Larimer county and settled in the Harmony district. In 1850 Mr. Covington crossed the Plains to California, where he spent two years at gold mining. He died April 6th, 1886, at his son's home, aged nearly 83 years.
HON. JAY HENRY BOUTON .- The life of Judge Bouton has been one of active identification with
public affairs. Since coming to Fort Collins in 1872 he has been Secretary of the Colony, Town Attorney, County Attorney, County Judge nine years, Judge of the District Court six years, Presi- dent of the Board of Education 18 years, and a city alderman eight years, faithfully discharging the du- ties of these various positions with strict fidelity and fairness. He was also the candidate of the Pro- hibition party in 1888 for Attorney General of Colorado. Judge Bouton is a native of the Empire state, born Dec. 28th, 1849, at Moravia, Cayuga county, New York, and received his primary and classical education in the public schools and academy there and at Groton, Tompkins county, New York. He began the study of law in the office of Wm. W. Hare, Groton, New York, finishing his legal studies with Bouton & Chaplain, Cortland, New York. He was admitted to the bar June 8th, 1870, at the general term of the Supreme court at Binghamton, New York. He practiced law two years in Cortland in partnership with George B. Jones, District Attorney of Cortland county, and then moved to Omaha, where he remained a few months. In October, 1872, he came to Fort Col- lins and opened an office for the practice of his pro- fession. The principal object he had in view in coming to Colorado at that time was to look after and care for his invalid brother, Clark Bouton, founder of the Standard, and County Superintend- ent of schools, who died Oct. 25th, 1874, after a valiant struggle to overcome asthma and rheuma- tism. Judge Bouton traces his ancestry back to the fifth century, when King Clovis ruled over the Visi- goths. The ancient Bouton shield, or coat-of-arms, had the following motto on a ground work of perpendicular lines: "De Gules a la Fasce d' Or," which is old French and translators say implies, "as fierce as a leopard when it attacks with its red mouth." The French historian, speaking of the Bou- tons, says that it is accorded to a noble ancestry that a proclivity for patriotism, education and re- ligion is seen in the race all down the ages. John Bouton was a Huguenot who fled to England during the existence of the great persecution, whence he sailed for America in July, 1635, and landed at Boston in December, 1635, and settled in Norwalk, Connecticut. From him all the families of Boutons or Boughtons in this country were descended. Judge Bouton erected the first building put up in what was called the "new town." This was in De- cember, 1872, and it stood on North College ave- nue, where the store occupied by Jesse Wood, the bookseller, Opera house block stands. In this he had
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MRS. JAY H. BOUTON
JUDGE JAY H. BOUTON
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
his office and kept bachelor's hall until his mother, Sarah M. Bouton, came in April, 1873. While serving as secretary of the colony he invested in town lots and other property and has since realized handsome returns from those investments. He was appointed Town Attorney in 1873, County Attor- ney in 1874, and in 1876 was first elected County Judge, re-elected in 1879 and again in 1892. In 1894 he was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial district, composed of the counties of Boulder, Lari- mer, Morgan and Weld, serving six years in that capacity with distinguished ability. He served the city of Fort Collins eight years as alderman from the Second ward, and was a member of the city council when the first system of water works was built. For eighteen years in succession he was President of the Board of Education and may justly be called the Father of Fort Collins' present excel- lent public school system. He introduced and estab- lished the kindergarten in 1880, and it was the first kindergarten opened west of St. Louis. In 1893 he secured the passage of an act by the legislature making it a part of the public school system of Colorado. The judge is a man of pronounced lit- erary tastes and has the largest private library in Larimer county, and he is an enthusiast upon all matters relating to education and school work. He was the originator of and one of the owners and builders of the Opera house block, the Bouton & Crain block and has also built several residences in Fort Collins, including the family home. On July 8th, 1876, Judge Bouton was married to Celeste Nixon, who is a native of Baraboo, Wisconsin. They have three living children, Mrs. Aureli S. Crain, wife of L. D. Crain of the Bouton-Crain Hardware company; Clark L. Bouton, a member of the Bouton-Crain Hardware company, and Jay Henry Bouton, Jr., who is at home. The family has a beautiful home on North Sherwood street, built in 1897, where good cheer, hospitality and filial affection are immovably enshrined. Aside from his official duties as a member of the Board of Directors of the Public library, Judge Bouton is now leading a retired life in close communion with the thousands of volumes in his library, honored and revered by a multitude of personal friends and admirers. The judge is a Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, and a member of the Mystic Shrine and a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason; an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. He was one of the founders of and a charter mem- ber of Fort Collins lodge No. 19, I. O. of O. F.
HENRY D. CALHOUN was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, April 13th, 1847, and spent his boy- hood on a farm. He received his education in the district and select schools, taking the final work at Westminster college in his native state, where he graduated in the classical course, June, 1870. In the spring of 1871 he came to Colorado and spent the winter of 1871-2 in Boulder county, and
HENRY D. CALHOUN
in the year of 1872-3 he was employed as principal of schools in the city of Boulder. In 1875 he moved to the Big Thompson valley, in Larimer county, and commenced farming. On the 28th day of May, 1884, he was married to Mattie Love, who died on April 23rd, 1901. The only child of his marriage was a son, Eph. J. Calhoun. Mr. Cal- houn continued to reside upon his farm until 1886, when he moved to Loveland, which place continues to be his home. He was engaged for fifteen years in the mercantile business in Loveland and did much to promote the growth of the city. He married Martha Strickler, as his second wife, on the 10th day of November, 1903. He became an extensive property holder, and the latter days of his life are given up to its management. He is highly respected
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
in the community and has been identified with many enterprises undertaken to build up a model city. He was a charter member of the Loveland United Presbyterian church, organized in 1875 by Rev. W. H. McCreery, and is still affiliated with the same. His son, Eph. J. Calhoun, grew to manhood and
ALEXANDER BARRY
met his death on March 21st, 1910, caused from an electric shock, leaving a widow and infant son, named Henry Jay Calhoun.
ALEXANDER BARRY was a native of Colerain, County Londonderry, Ireland, born in 1839, of Scotch parents and the eldest of six children. He came with his father's family from Ireland to the United States in 1863. The father died the follow- ing year in Philadelphia. Our subject was em- ployed for five years in the Pennsylvania oil re-
gions, engaged in drilling oil wells under contracts. At Walnut Bend, near Oil City, Pennsylvania, he married Emma Thompson, daughter of W. N. Thompson, who was born near Florence, Penn- sylvania. After spending a year in Philadelphia, Mr. and Mrs. Barry, in 1871, came to Fort Collins, which is still the family home. Mr. Barry bought of Joseph Mason 120 acres of land on the north side of the Caché la Poudre river, adjoining Fort Collins, which he improved, occupied and cultivated until 1902, when he sold the farm to the Great Western Sugar company, and moved his family into the city of Fort Collins. Fortune favored him and he prospered almost from the start. Along in the early 80's he bought 200 acres of land near Windsor, Weld county, and also purchased a stock ranch on the North Platte, Wyoming. He was a broad-minded, generous-hearted and public-spirited man and citizen. He died Oct. 28th, 1905, at Little Rock, Arkansas, while en route to Hot Springs to take treatment for paralysis, leaving a wife and eight children in good finan- cial circumstances. The names of his children are Mrs. Rachael Decker, Miss May Barry, Mrs. Margaret Wolfer, Robert Barry, Mrs. Clara Jennings, Mrs. W. A. Harris, James Barry and Mrs. Ruth Metcalf of Marrietta, Ohio. Mrs. Barry and her daughter, May, a graduate of the Fort Collins High school, and the only one of the children at home, have a beautiful residence on South College avenue near the Agricul- tural college.
SAMUEL H. CLAMMER .- It took Sam Clammer just a score of years to rise from the condition of a West Virginia contractor's boy to that of a capitalist and banker; from laborer to employer; from cotton jeans to broadcloth; from poverty to affluence ; from an unlettered country lad to mayor of the growing and prosperous city of Fort Collins. And his upward steps were all taken in Colorado with a cash capital of $5.00 to start with. But he had what is better than money. He had ambition to learn and to gain, courage to meet and overcome obstacles, grit and perseverance to stick to it until he had accomplished his object. Nevertheless, his is a
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
wonderful record of achievement. Mr. Clammer was born on March 27th, 1874, at Smithville, Ritchie county, West Virginia. He was one of a large family of children, and his father, a poor contractor of German descent, was often troubled for means to feed and clothe his growing family. Sam worked on his father's poverty-stricken acres without school advantages and poorly dressed until he was 17 years of age and then obtained his father's consent to strike out for himself. He came direct to Colorado and when he arrived at Eaton, Weld county, in February, 1891, the clothes on his back and $5.00 in money constituted his sole worldly possessions. He secured employment on a farm and worked hard, early and late, for $16 per month, and three years later came to Larimer county. Here also he worked on a farm, often putting in sixteen and eighteen hours a day, until he had accumu- lated a little money, which he invested in a saw- mill at Black Mountain and lost it all, in addition to a year's labor. Then he engaged in the livery business, which he followed for a time; then bought a farm in the Harmony district, selling it a year later to buy the George Wilson farm, situated under the Larimer county canal. This he held a short time and sold it for twice what he paid for it. From this time on his progress upwards has been of a meteoric character. Everything he touched seemed to turn to money. One of his best deals was when he bought the Poudre Valley Live Stock company's property, including a large herd of cattle, running into debt for a good big share of the purchase money. This he sold four months later and cleaned up a handsome profit in the deal. He has bought and sold a number of other farms and still owns several good tracts of cultivated land. He was one of the promoters and builders of the Northern hotel, which cost $100,000, and owns a controlling inter- est in the property. He is a stockholder of the First National Bank of Fort Collins, and is a director and vice-president of the institution. He is also interested in several other profitable enterprises. He is liberal with his money; keeps it moving, doing good. In April, 1905, Mr. Clammer was elected mayor of Fort Collins and re-elected in April, 1907, giving the city four years of faithful and efficient service. At the close of his second term as mayor he refused to accept the office again, but the people were determined he should continue to serve them, so they elected him a member of the city council in 1909, which position he filled until April, 1911. Notwithstanding his success and his wealth, he is the same genial and approachable gen-
tleman that he was when he worked on a farm at $16 a month, and is recognized as one of Fort Col- lins' foremost, public-spirited and enterprising citi- zens. On June 7th, 1899, Mr. Clammer married Emma P. Garrett, an adopted daughter of the late Rev. F. W. Garrett, and three children have been born of the union, Willa, aged 10; Olin, aged 8; and Burton, aged 6. Mrs. Clammer is a native of Colorado, born at Caribou, Boulder county.
H. F. BROOKS was born in Edwardsville, Illi- nois, March 20th, 1847, and was educated there and in St. Louis. He was married in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1868, to Frances Carlows. They have three sons, Ernest J., a resident of Washing- ton; W. H., on a ranch near Fort Collins, and S. S., who lives at home. Mr. Brooks came to Colo- rado in 1881. In the early years of his life he fol- lowed the trade of wagon-maker, but is now com- fortably located on a fruit farm near Laporte.
W. B. ALFORD, born in Buchanan county, Iowa, Nov. 19th, 1870; received his education in the pub- lic schools; came to Colorado in August, 1872, and lived on his Grandfather Alford's farm, ten miles west of Denver; came to Larimer county March 10th, 1886, and followed farming and stock rais- ing; married May Benoy, March 17th, 1897, and they have an only daughter, Flora Edith Alford.
HON. GEORGE W. BAILEY .- From a water-boy in a coal mine, from a chore-boy on a farm, from a Black Hills freighter, a cowboy on the Plains, and from editor of a newspaper, the subject of this sketch rose through regular gradations and by his own unaided efforts, indomitable will and ambi- tion to a seat on the Supreme Court bench of the state of Colorado. This, in brief, is the life history of Judge George W. Bailey, who died on April 15th, 1909, in Fort Collins, Colorado. Judge Bai- ley was born March 8th, 1856, in St. Louis, Mis- souri. The family moved to Illinois and when the boy was nine years of age his father enlisted in the Union army and part of the support of the family fell upon George's shoulders, so that the opportun- ities for obtaining an education were exceedingly meagre. In 1873 the Bailey family came to Colo- rado and settled in the Harmony district and for three years our subject worked in the lumber woods, then as freighter to the Black Hills, later riding the range in Nebraska and South Dakota as a cowboy. He returned to Fort Collins in 1882 and took up the study of the law, which he pursued with great
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
diligence until 1885, when he was admitted to practice. While studying law he assisted in editing the Loveland Reporter and in 1883 he went to Grand Lake and founded the Prospector, which he and his partner, John Smart, published about two years. Here on April 17th, 1883, he married Belle Jarbeau. Soon after being admitted to the bar he
HON. GEORGE W. BAILEY
moved his family to Fort Collins and that city is still the family home. Here he served four years as City Attorney, five years as deputy District At- torney and two years as County Judge. In Jan- uary, 1905, he was appointed a Justice of the State Supreme Court by Governor Peabody, a position he occupied and honored until a few months before his death.
ISAAC C. BRADLEY, the youngest of a family of five children, was born Oct. 28th, 1878, near Huntsville, Missouri, which was also the birth- place of his father and mother. He received his education in the public schools of Mexico, Mis- souri, and after leaving school learned the printer's trade, which he followed until 1903, opening and establishing a shop for the repair of bicycles and
motorcycles and for the sale of them, in 1906, a line of business he still follows and in which he has had a good measure of success. Mr. Bradley came from Missouri to Fort Collins, arriving on the 22nd of January, 1901. After working at the printing trade in the local newspaper offices for about a year, he founded and began the publication of the Fort Collins Daily Star, which he published until 1903 and then suspended it. Being some- what of a mechanical genius and seeing an opening for a bicycle repair shop, he embarked in that busi- ness, dealing also in bicycles, motorcycles and sup- plies. He is an enthusiastic member of the Bicycle club and also of the Motorcycle club, and has origi- nated and promoted several entertaining and suc- cessful bicycle and motorcycle races. On Nov. 4th, 1903, Mr. Bradley was united in marriage with Frankie May Fox, who was born near Mexico, Missouri. Two children, James Vincil and
ISAAC C. BRADLEY
Dorothy E., have blessed the union. Our subject is of German descent, his ancestors settling in the United States several generations ago. He is a man of probity and honor and is rated as one of Fort Collins' most progressive citizens.
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JA Brown
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
JAMES A. BROWN .- This is the story of a man who came to Fort Collins in 1868, who, by sheer force of character, steady application and absolutely square dealing, has accumulated a handsome for- tune. And the best part of it is, no man living can truthfully say that James A. Brown ever wronged him out of a single cent. His absolute honesty, strict integrity and fair-mindedness are recognized and commended by all who know him. Mr. Brown was born Jan. 31st, 1843, on Prince Edwards' Is- land, Canada, where he was educated in the public schools. On his 24th birthday, Jan. 31st, 1867, he married Adelaide Carnrike, at Bellville, Canada. His living children are Adelbert and Clyde H. of Fort Collins, and Frank J. of Portland, Oregon. The eldest son is the junior member of the firm of Matthews & Brown, butchers and packers. Mr. Brown learned the carriage-maker's trade in early manhood and soon after arriving in Fort Collins joined his brother, John R. Brown, in the wagon- making and blacksmithing business, in which both were successful. They remained in partnership two years and then our subject retired to engage in the cattle business. In 1881 he was chosen general manager of the Powder River Live Stock company and remained as such until 1893, when the com- pany sold its herds and retired from the live stock business. The company's investment amounted to $750,000, and it was one of the most successful live stock companies operating in Wyoming. In the fall of 1886 the company bought 2,500 acres of land in the Elkhorn valley, Nebraska, on which it established extensive feeding grounds and where it fed and fattened 2,000 head of cattle annually for market. Mr. Brown was also manager of this en- terprise. During the hard winter of 1886-7 the Powder River Live Stock company lost $400,000 worth of cattle by starvation and the bitter cold. It had 24,000 head of cattle on the range in the fall of 1886, and only found 8,000 head in the spring of 1887. Notwithstanding this heavy loss, the com- pany came out ahead in the deal through the big dividends earned in previous years. After the com- pany closed up its affairs, Mr. Brown came back to Fort Collins, which has been his home for 43 years. Though the owner of several of the best farms in the county, he has never carried on farming him- self. He has always lived in town, and has built more than a dozen houses in Fort Collins, including the first frame house built in the town. He has served two terms, from 1901 to 1905, in the city council as alderman from the Fourth ward, and was a member of that body when the new water
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