USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 65
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O. D. SHIELDS, one of Loveland's foremost pio- neer citizens, is a native of Mahoning county, Ohio. On coming to man's estate, he spent ten years in the oil regions of Pennsylvania and then came west, locating in Loveland in 1879, where he has since lived and flourished. He early saw the fruit grow- ing possibilities of Larimer county and the need of acclimated nursery stock and therefore started a nursery in a small way at first, adding to his ground and stock year by year, until at last he had one of the largest, best equipped and best assorted nurseries in Colorado, and has been the means of supplying thousands of orchards in the state with trees that were true to name and thoroughly ac- climated and which have since proved a source of pleasure and profit to their owners. In this re- spect, Mr. Shields has been a real benefactor to his race and to Colorado, for through his fore- sight and his skill in growing fruit trees, the fruit growing industry has been fostered and developed to a marked extent, and Larimer county, in par- ticular, enriched by hundreds of thousands of dol- lars. He sold his nursery business a few years ago
to the Colorado Nursery company, and retired from active business pursuits. He resides in a cosy, well furnished home on West Fifth street, Loveland, with his wife and son, Donald, enjoying the aut- umn of life in comfort and at peace with all the world. It is to such men as Mr. Shields to whom an everlasting debt of gratitude is due for what they have done to make life worth living in this splendid Centennial state of ours.
ALFRED A. EDWARDS .- It is a well recognized fact that the men who "do things", the men who are the staunch, intellectual, progressive and moral supports of the county, are, generally speaking, those who spend their early years on the farm. There is something in the close contact with the soil and with the lessons taught by nature which tends to develop the youth and cause him to ex- pand mentally, morally and physically. The annals of Larimer county are full of bright, shining ex- amples of men who, because of their intellectual strength, moral fibre and progressive spirit, have been called from the farm to occupy positions of trust and responsibility, or to lead in the execution of great enterprises. These reflections lead up to the life story of Alfred A. Edwards, for he is an example of a farmer boy who has made good in every sense of the term. He was born August 26th, 1851, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He lived on his father's farm, doing the work assigned him, and doing it well, until he was thirteen years of age. The family then moved to the town of Mer- cer where he laid the foundation for an education in the public schools. In August, 1869, he came to Larimer county with Rev. W. T. McAdams and four other men. He spent a year in the West as a cowboy and ranch hand, and then returned to his Eastern home to complete his education. This done, he taught school one year and later was rail- road ticket agent in Mercer and Sharon, Penn- sylvania, until 1876, when he retraced his steps to Colorado, arriving in Fort Collins in Septem- ber, and that city has since been his home. From 1876 to 1884 Mr. Edwards was engaged in various avocations, among them ranching, bookkeeping, clerking and milling. He was also assistant to rail- road station agent T. J. Montgomery for about two years. In May, 1884, he was appointed deputy County Treasurer and deputy Clerk of the Dis- trict Court under E. N. Garbutt. In the fall of 1885 he was elected to the office of County Treas- urer, serving the people in that position with signal ability and fidelity until July 1st, 1890, having
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A. Edwards
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
been appointed to fill a vacancy for six months, due to a change in the law. On retiring from public service, Mr. Edwards engaged in the ab- stract, real estate and insurance business. In July, 1891, he assisted in organizing the Water Supply & Storage company, which sprang up on the ruins of the old Larimer County Ditch company. He was one of the incorporators and also a Director and Secretary of the new company, serving in the latter capacity for three and one half years. In 1895, he was chosen President and General Mana- ger of the company, filling those positions for fif- teen years. It was during his administration that the company made its greatest advance toward efficiency, bringing it up among the foremost water distributing and irrigation enterprises in Colorado. The market value of shares in the company has increased from $500 in 1891 to about $4,000 in 1910. In 1905, Governor McDonald appointed Mr. Edwards a member of the State Board of Agriculture for a term of eight years. He was chosen Vice-President of the board in 1907, and made President in 1909, which position he still holds. It is fortunate for the college, for Colo- rado and for Fort Collins as well, that a man of strong individuality, unswerving integrity and an acute appreciation of right and justice, like Mr. Edwards, has been honored with this important and very responsible position, for on a faithful discharge of its duties depends not only the finan- cial interests of the institution, but also the in- tellectual and moral welfare of its hundreds of students, for his success in life is an inspiration in- citing them to greater effort. Mr. Edwards is also General Manager of the Laramie-Poudre Re- servoir & Irrigation company, one of the largest and most important irrigation projects in Colorado. He was married December 20th, 1883, to Phoebe G. Edson. They have three children, James G., Walter D. and Ruth E., all of whom still linger about the home nest, although the sons are steadily employed in irrigation engineering and construc- tion work. The family has a beautiful home on West Mountain avenue, ideal in character and furnishings, and where conjugal love, happiness and contentment reign supreme. No man in Larimer county has been instrumental to a greater extent in developing its agricultural resources than Mr. Edwards and though he has filled many public places of trust and responsibility and has had the handling of millions of dollars of other peoples' money, not a whisper or hint of malfeasance in office or betrayal of trust has ever been heard. His
record in all of them is without blot or blemish, and wherever he is known he is one of the most ad- mired of men because of his acknowledged enter- prise and integrity and his splendid social gifts.
RICHARD C. SPRINGER .- Few men in Larimer county have been more successful than Richard C. Springer. He has been a resident of the county since 1882, living at and near Timnath. He was born in New Jersey, May 25th, 1862, and was educated in the public schools at Bridgeport, his native town. He was married to Martha S. Shea, April 23rd, 1884. Wilbur B. Springer of Tim- nath, is their only child. Mr. Springer first located on a farm 22 miles northwest of Timnath and fol- lowed farming for many years. He now lives one- half mile northwest of Timnath. He conducted a general merchandise store and has been post- master of the town for several years. He owns two farms near Timnath, a store building and two other houses and lots in that town, and while in California, made investments in city property in Los Angeles.
ARTHUR B. HARRIS was born near Fort Collins, Colo., October 28, 1886, the son of Isaac B. and Mary Lillian (Elton) Harris; graduated from the public schools and attended the Agricultural col- lege two years, taking the preparatory work; en- tered newspaper office, making a study of editorial and business ends as well as learning the printers' trade, later conducting a job office for some time ; was married in Colorado Springs to Nannie M. Chrisman, October 23, 1909, and has one daugh- ter; moved to Wellington, Larimer county, in April, 1910, accepting employment on the Welling- ton Sun; in January, 1911, established "The Cham- pion," a monthly prohibition journal and official organ of the state Prohibition party; takes an active interest in party politics and has been county chair- man since twenty-one years of age.
M. C. WARD .- It is somewhat noticeable what a wonderful attraction farm life has for the man who for nearly a lifetime has been exposed to all the perils, risks and dangers of the railway service. For 25 years Mr. Ward was a most capable and efficient conductor, 20 years of which in the employ of the Colorado and Southern railroad, and after so many years of active duty he tendered his resig- nation and is now happy in the selection of a com- fortable home west of Fort Collins, where he may pass the remaining years of his life amid agreeable rural surroundings. Mr. Ward was born at Ver-
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sailles, Ohio, June 2nd, 1861, and was married to Mary Ligier in 1883. To them was born one son, Carl. The family came to Colorado in 1891, and to Larimer county in 1902.
WILLIAM H. RALPH was born March 22nd, 1849, at Hetston, Cornwall, England, where he went to school. At 14 years of age, he was ap-
WILLIAM H. RALPH
prenticed to the cabinet-making trade, serving under one master for six years, going then to London to work for an uncle as a journeyman. He re- mained in his uncle's employ one year and then went to Truro, Cornwall, where on August 28th, 1870, he married Mary Anna Hearn. Soon after the wedding, Mr. Ralph and his bride emigrated to the United States, locating first at Elizabeth, Illinois, where he opened a furniture and under- taking store. Two years later moved to Onton- agon, Michigan. Here he made furniture for the copper miners and coffins for those that needed them until 1873, when he came to Colorado and located in business at Central City. The altitude there being too high for him, he sold his business in 1877 and in September, 1878, he came to Fort Collins
and established himself in business in a room in the Wilson block on Jefferson street. Two years later he erected the building next west of the Cour- ier office and occupied it until the fall of 1881, when he sold it to E. O. Hoyt. In 1882, Mr. Ralph joined with the late J. T. Cliff, W. C. Stover and A. H. Patterson and built the Jeffer- son block. Into this building he moved his stock of furniture and continued in business until the silver panic of 1893 came on, when he disposed of his property on Jefferson street and retired from active business for a few years. In 1900, he opened a furniture store at Eaton, Colorado, and con- ducted it until his health gave out in 1907. He suffered from nervous prostration for about two years, finally recovering sufficient strength to en- able him to open and conduct a variety store on E. Oak street which now occupies his time and at- tention. Mr. Ralph was the pioneer cabinet maker and undertaker and exclusive dealer in furniture in Fort Collins, and as a business man and citizen stands very high in the estimation of his fellow men. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph have three sons and two daughters, William J. Ralph, Mrs. Henrietta Nel- son, wife of Frank M. Nelson, Albert H. Ralph, Mrs. Nellie Arbuckle and Harry Ralph, all located near the parental home. Mr. Ralph served two terms in the city council as alderman from the first ward.
STEWART McNEY was born in 1876, in Russell Fisk's dugout at Livermore. He was the eldest of three sons, Stewart, Walter and John McNey, whose parents were John and Frances (Stewart) McNey, pioneers of the Livermore country. They crossed the Plains in a wagon in 1875 and located on a stock ranch about eight miles west of the pres- ent Livermore hotel and postoffice, where they lived until Mr. McNey died in December, 1901. Here the sons grew to manhood. Walter is a ranchman at Westlake, John a ranchman on home place in Livermore, and our subject lives at 416 Peterson street, Fort Collins. He married Josie Dyekman in October, 1908, who is a daughter of LeRoy and Mary E. Dyekman. Mrs. McNey graduated from the Fort Collins High school and has since been a successful teacher in the public schools of Larimer county for a period of six years.
DR. ALBERT E. GOODWIN came with his family from Wisconsin to Fort Collins, July 19th, 1905, and is one of the most active, energetic and am- bitious men in the community. A dentist by pro- fession, but soon tiring of office work, he branched
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out into a successful dealer in land and live stock, in which he has made a fortune within the brief space of five years; is one of the originators and promotors of the Park Creek Irrigation district. Dr. Goodwin was born January 29th, 1865, at Trenton, Pierce county, Wisconsin, and married Florence E. Bennett, August 19th, 1903. They have two children, Merle Alice and James Ben- nett. He and an associate recently invested in the Roberts stock and dairy ranch, for which they paid upwards of $30,000. Dr. Goodwin is a fine example of the man who does things and makes it pay.
DR. GEORGE H. GLOVER .- Born on an Iowa farm, April 2nd, 1864, and reared on a Colorado farm; these are among the favors kind nature and circumstances have bestowed upon the subject of our sketch. Two years of his life were spent in his native town, Eagle, Iowa, six years at Earl- ville, Illinois, and the rest of it for the most part, in Colorado. In 1850, his father, Russell B. Glover, tramped across the Plains to Sacramento, California, with an emigrant train. He located a mine, sold it and the following year he planted a large field of potatoes. Prices slumped at harvest time; he lost money and then returned to Illinois. In 1858 he married Emily Cook Garland from West Campton, New Hampshire, and followed farming in Illinois. His wife being a sufferer from asthma, he moved to Iowa in 1863, but as she re- ceived no benefit he returned to Illinois two years later. In the spring of 1872, Mr. Glover moved to Longmont when our subject was seven years of age. The boy was raised on a farm two miles east of Longmont and attended the Longmont public schools. In January, 1880, when 16 years of age, he entered the Colorado Agricultural college, grad- uating therefrom in 1884 with the first class granted diplomas at that institution. He paid his own way through college, his parents being in straightened circumstances, owing to his mother's illness. A good friend offered to pay his way through the Iowa Agricultural college at Ames. He accepted the offer and graduated in veterinary medicine at that institution in 1885. In Nov- ember, 1887, he married Margaret J. Glover (no relation ) at Longmont. Immediately after this he was employed by Colorado and Montana as sanitary inspector of cattle on the old Na- "tional trail from Texas. His duty was to inspect through cattle for Texas fever and was thus em- ployed for six years. He also served one year as
deputy state veterinarian of Montana. Then he spent two years on the home farm and in 1900 was employed by the Colorado Agricultural col- lege to give lectures once a week on veterinary medicine. Two years later he was elected head of the veterinary department at that institution, which, through his energy and distinguished skill and
DR. GEORGE H. GLOVER
ability, is now in class "A" of the veterinary col- leges of America. Dr. Glover is President of the Association of Faculties and State Examining Boards of America, and President of the American Veterinary Medical Association; was President of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association in 1907, and is City Food Inspector of Fort Collins.
FRANK W. RICKS was born February 7th, 1840, in Germany, and educated in his native country ; came to the United States at an early age and on November 27th, 1867, married Anna Roeder at St. Louis, Missouri; came to the Little Thomp- son valley in 1881 and settled on a farm 3} miles west of Berthoud, where he has since resided; is a successful and prosperous farmer and fruit grower and thinks farming by irrigation is the only pro-
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per way to successfully cultivate the soil. Served two years and ten months in Company E of the second Missouri Cavalry during the Civil war.
EDGAR T. PATE, sole proprietor of the Boston Store, one of the largest and most prosperous mer- cantile establishments in Northern Colorado, was born April 12th, 1875, at Sweet Springs, Pettis
EDGAR T. PATE
county, Missouri. In 1889 he came with his father's family to Boulder, Colo. He was educated in the public schools, carrying newspapers after school hours. After graduating from the High school he went to Denver and was employed as a solicitor by one of the afternoon dailies of that city. He enlisted June 13th, 1898, in company H of the 1st Colorado Volunteers; accompanied his regiment to the Philippines, spending about a year in Luzon. He was an orderly on General Green's staff when the 1st Colorado marched into Manila. His military record shows he was in the battle of Manila, Aug. 13th, 1898. Engagements with insurgents, Feb. 4th and 5th and Feb. 23rd, 1899, and subsequent scouts and marches to June 12th, 1899, when he was shot through the left knee, at
Mariquina Heights, and sent home on the hospital ship, Relief. Mr. Pate moved to Larimer county, December 15th, 1903, and opened up the mercantile business in Loveland; moved to Fort Collins, May 14th, 1908, and opened the Boston Store which he is still conducting with almost phenomenal success. He has twice had to move into larger quarters to obtain space in which to carry on his constantly increasing business. Mr. Pate was the originator of the "spot cash and no delivery" policy in selling goods which is working like a charm. He employs twenty clerks and salesmen and is doing an im- mense business. He married Bertie E. Smith, September 3rd, 1901, at Holden, Missouri, and three children, Ethel Pearl, Robert Edgar and Flemmon Earnest, have been the fruits of the union. The father of our subject T. J. Pate is a native of Alabama. He taught school in Mississippi in his younger days. On the breaking out of the Civil war he joined the 4th, Missouri Volunteer Infantry and fought all through the conflict for the "Bonnie Blue Flag" which bore a single star.
N. R. FAULKNER was born in Hancock, Dela- ware Co., N. Y. Educated at Sherman, Pennsyl- vania. Lived at Lone Tree, Iowa, from 1872 to 1882, where he was married to Ella Richey in 1875. He came to Loveland in 1882. They have three children, Harry, Alva and Lena. He is engaged in farming.
GEORGE CRONK .- With the single exception of Mrs. Cary Culver, widow of the late Cary Culver, who was the first man to permanently locate in the Little Thompson valley, Mr. Cronk has been a continuous resident of that valley for a longer period of time than any other person living. He came there in 1871 and took up a homestead one mile west and one and a half miles south of the present town of Berthoud, and has, therefore, been a citizen of the county for forty years. He was born in 1837, in Pittstown, New York, and came to Colorado in 1859 with the rush of gold seekers. He stopped a short time at Boulder, then a fron- tier log cabin town, and then located on the St. Vrain. In 1862 he enlisted in the 2nd Colorado cavalry and served three years, principally in Mis- souri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, under Capt. Kingsbury. He married Miss Eliza M. Graf- ton, September 10th, 1866, and settled in the Little Thompson valley in 1871. His neighbors at first were few and far between. Though he still owns the farm he took up forty years ago, in addition to 80 acres of railroad land that he bought, he has
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given up farm work and farm life and he and his wife reside in Berthoud, enjoying a well earned rest after many years of pioneer life. They have no children.
WILLIAM RIST, ex-County Surveyor, ex-city Engineer of Fort Collins and ex-Division Engineer for Irrigation Division No. 1 of Colorado, was born April 13th, 1853, in Fayette county, Penn- sylvania; educated at Bethany, West Virginia; came to Colorado in 1869; married Texanna Trees of Texas in 1880; three children living; Irene, Charlotte, and Anna J. Rist; moved, in 1881, to Fort Collins which place is still his home; has spent twenty-two years of his life in public service.
WILLIAM RUSSELL THOMAS was born at Barry- ville, Sullivan county, N. Y., his parents removing, when he was a mere child, into Pennsylvania, in which state he spent his boyhood years. He received his first education in the public schools and began his preparations for college at the Monticello (N. Y.) Academy. He entered the Freshman class of Williams college in 1861, graduating with the degree of A. B. in 1865, having in the meantime taken some practical lessons in journalism on the Chicago Tribune. He was one of the Tribune's reporters of Abraham Lincoln's funeral.
After graduating he spent several months study- ing constitutional history and law. In 1866 he started for Colorado and spent the larger portion of the summer of that year traveling in the moun- tains accompanying Bayard Taylor in his tour of Colorado.
In October, he secured a position on the Central City Register as editor, which he retained until May, 1867, when he was offered and accepted a position on the Rocky Mountain News at Denver, as managing editor. This place he held for eleven years, or until May, 1878, when the sale of the paper occasioned an entire change of editorial policy and management.
During the years of 1880-81 he was first city editor and then managing editor of the Denver Times. In 1886 he returned to the News, serving in the various positions of reporter, city editor, man- aging editor and editorial writer for sixteen years, until December, 1902, when he resigned to accept his present position on the Agricultural college faculty.
The only political position he ever held was that of Adjutant General of the Territory, from 1872 to 1874. In June, 1901, he was elected unani-
mously by the State Board of Agriculture to fill the vacancy in its membership, and in December, 1902, the board created the Department of Con- stitutional History and Irrigation Law, and elected Dr. Thomas professor in charge of the department. He conducts the classes in United States Constitu- tion, Irrigation law, Sociology, Political Economy, History, Laws of contracts and Laws governing
WILLIAM RUSSELL THOMAS
the practice of Veterinary Science, and the care and transportation of live stock.
At its commencement in 1902, the University of Denver conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Letters, "in recognition," as the Chancellor said, "of his services in behalf of education in Colorado."
Dr. Thomas was happily married, September, 1871, to Miss Flora Sumner, of West Liberty, Iowa, a union that has been blessed by three sons and a daughter: Chauncey, William Russell Jr., Charles Sumner, and Flora Thomas.
JAMES WATSON is a native of Scotland, born in June, 1858, at Inverurie, Aberdeen. He was reared on a farm and attended school in his youth. He came to Fort Collins in 1887, and in 1893
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married Agnes Petrie, who has borne him five chil- dren, Janie, Jessie, James, Alexander, Anna, and Bessie. He is recognized as one of the best and most successful farmers in the county.
MCCORMICK BROTHERS, (GEORGE C., AND JAMES G., ) owners and publishers of the Morning and Weekly Express of Fort Collins, are both
GEORGE C. MC CORMICK
natives of Iowa, a state that has furnished Colo- rado with many good citizens. George C., was born October 20th, 1872, and James G., February 24th, 1874, near Sandyville, Warren county. They are sons of Montgomery and Harriet McCormick. In 1880, they moved with their parents to Stanton, Iowa, where for eleven years their attention was devoted exclusively to farming and to laying the foundation for their education, in the public schools. In 1891, the family moved to College Springs, Iowa, where the parents still reside. The sub- jects of this sketch attended Amity college in their home town, from which both graduated, George in 1897 from the Philosophical course, and James in 1899 from the Scientific course. About the time of his graduation, George bought the Current Press of College Springs and engaged in the news- paper business, which he has since followed with success. On January 1st, 1899, he sold the Cur- rent Press to his brother James, and purchased the Albia Republican, which he conducted alone for a period of eight years, except for a year and a half
when he was associated with his brother. James published the Current Press until 1903, when he purchased the Cresco Times, which he published for about a year and then entered into partnership with George in the management of the Albia Re- publican, the firm continuing until July, 1906, when James came to Fort Collins and bought a one- half interest in the Express, which he still owns. On June 24th, 1905, James was joined in marriage with Nina Webster, daughter of Mrs. Orpha Web- ster of Cresco, Iowa. George married Carrie Sherman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. L. Sher- man at College Springs, June 22nd, 1897. Of the last named union, two children were born; Paul, aged nine years and Ruth, aged four years. The family resides at 601 West Mountain avenue. On May 1st, 1907, George McCormick sold the Albia Republican and purchased W. D. Junkin's half interest in the Express and the two brothers again became associated in the newspaper business under the firm name of McCormick Brothers, and they are still vested with the ownership and manage- ment of the pioneer newspaper of Larimer county. On the 28th of May, 1907, McCormick Brothers began the publication of the Morning Express in connection with the weekly edition, thus giving
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