USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 70
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
Rachael Seward, daughter of Swain Seward, who was a cousin of Hon. William H. Seward, former United States Senator from New York, and later Secretary of State during President Lincoln's ad- ministration. In early life our subject's ambition prompted him to seek a more active career and in the fall of 1872 he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, forming a partnership about two years later
MRS. BOLIVAR S. TEDMON
with his brother, Hon. H. E. Tedmon, who is a well known resident of Larimer county. The brothers carried on business together in their native town until the spring of 1878, when they decided to remove to Colorado and arrived in Fort Collins in May of that year with their families, and, except for brief intervals of absence, that city has since been our subject's home. Tedmon Bros. bought what was known as the Joseph Mason store and continued in business in Fort Collins for several years. In the fall of 1879 B. S. Tedmon built the Tedmon House, the first three story brick and stone building erected in Fort Collins. It was completed and opened by the owner in the spring of 1880. In 1882 Mr. Tedmon sold the hotel to George M. Jones and accepted the appointment of Superin-
tendent of Insurance, tendered him by Hon. John C. Abbott, then State Auditor, serving in that capacity two years under Mr. Abbott and two years under Hon. Hiram A. Spruance. He also served one year as deputy State Auditor under Hon. John M. Henderson. On retiring from office Mr. Ted- mon again engaged in the mercantile business in Denver, but soon retired from trade to take up real estate, insurance and loans, which line he has since followed with marked success, his two sons, Allyn H. and Bob S., being now associated with him under the firm name of B. S. Tedmon & Sons. The firm is widely and favorably known and enjoys an extensive and lucrative patronage. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tedmon, and their names are Anna R., teacher of oratory and dramatic expression; Allyn H. and Bob S. Tedmon, Jr., who are associated with their father. Mr. Ted- mon has been a firm and loyal friend of Fort Collins for a third of a century, never failing when oppor- tunity offered to speak a good word for the home of his adoption and has stood ready to lend a help- ing hand in forwarding any movement that was intended to advance its growth and material wel- fare.
WALLIS A. LINK was born December 3rd, 1860, in Jo Daviess county, Illinois; came to Laramie Wyoming, in 1870; married Mary E. Kenyon, July 23rd, 1889, and settled on a stock ranch on Stuck creek in 1889, removing two years later to Big Park and engaged in the stock business. In 1901 he discovered a chain of lakes on the eastern slope of the Medicine Bow mountains which bear his name and now form a part of the Laramie- Poudre Reservoir and Irrigation project. He orig- inated the project of bringing the water from these lakes through a tunnel to the Poudre water shed, and was actively connected with it for about five years. He sold his ranch in 1900 and moved his family to Fort Collins which has since been his home. Mr. and Mrs. Link have three children, Mildred F., Alcena I., and Neil G. Link, all at home.
M. R. KILBURN was born February 16th, 1865, in Virginia City, Montana; came with his parents to the Big Thompson valley in September, 1865, where he still lives; educated in public schools, Agricultural college and Denver university; mar- ried Alice Kempton of Corning, Iowa, July 3rd, 1889; two children, Saville and Miriam, both at home; instructor in Central Business College, Den-
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HISTORY OF
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ver, ten years; conducted commercial school at Loveland three years; now in nursery business ; member of State Board of Horticulture.
JOSEPH H. GEORGE, one of the first permanent white settlers of the Virginia Dale district, is a native of Canada, born May 9th, 1846, where he attended school and attained his majority. He came west in 1868 and settled first in the Caché la Poudre valley in Weld county, a short distance west of the present city of Greeley, finding em- ployment on the ranch owned by Robert and Andrew Boyd. He remained here until the spring of 1872, marrying a sister of his employers in the meantime, when he moved with a bunch of cattle to Virginia Dale and located on a stock ranch on 'Dale creek a short distance down stream from Andrew Boyd's ranch, which he owned and operated for thirty-seven years with marked success. His ranch embraced tillable, meadow and pasture lands, and here his herd of cattle increased until he became known as one of the prominent stockmen of the county. He sold his holdings, including live stock in October, 1909, for $22,000 and retired from active business pur- suits. He is noted for honesty of purpose, up- rightness and square dealing in all his business transactions, and his integrity as a man and a citi- zen has never been called in question. His word is as good as a bond and what Joe George promises to do that he will do. His first wife, who died several years ago, bore him two sons, Robert O. and Joseph E. George. He remarried, his second wife being a native of Chautauqua county, New York, and a niece of his first wife. Mr. George is now a temporary resident of Fort Collins, not yet having fixed upon a permanent place of resi- dence.
JOHN KIMMONS .- A prosperous cattleman, is a native of Carroll county, Illinois, born March 7th, 1857; attended public school until 1867 when his parents moved to Missouri, thence to Gales- burg, Illinois; came to Fort Collins in the fall of 1877 and worked three years for J. G. Ridgeley on Highland Place ranch; worked nine years for Chain & Hardy, Denver, stockmen, during which he began to gather a herd of cattle for himself; drove his cattle to North Park in 1897, where he owned 1,480 acres of deeded land and at one time 500 head of cattle; sold his cattle in 1907 and turned his ranch into a dairy farm; married Mary Herrington, December 6th, 1882, and they have eight children; Mrs. Earl McComb, Wiley, Colo-
rado; Florence, Edith, Mabel, Georgia, Helen B., Robert and John. The family resides in Fort Collins.
HARRIS STRATTON was born November 10th, 1829, at Northfield, Massachusetts; died on Sun- day, July 12th, 1908, in Fort Collins, Colorado, aged 79 years. Mr. Stratton was reared and
HARRIS STRATTON
educated in his native town. In 1854, he came west and settled in Lawrence, Kansas, helping to erect the second house built in that now large and flourishing city. He moved to Topeka, Kansas, on January 1st, 1855, and assisted in building the first house erected in what later became the capital city of the state. In July of that year he went back to his eastern home, returning to Kansas the same year with a company of thirty-four settlers; was with General James Lane as aid and scout during the Border Ruffian troubles; represented Doniphan county in the first free state legislature, which convened at Lawrence, and was also a mem- ber of the house of representatives under the To- peka constitution, serving as speaker thereof. He was a clerk in the state auditor's office and was
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HISTORY OF
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afterwards appointed auditor of state by the Gov- ernor. He was also secretary of the Topeka Town company. He went to Texas in 1860, thence to Savannah, Georgia, and finally, after running the gauntlet of General Braxton Bragg's southern army, arrived at his native town in August, 1863. That fall he again turned his face westward and spent two years in Kansas. In 1865, he crossed
MRS. HARRIS STRATTON
the Plains to Larimer county, locating in what was then Camp Collins, which has since been his home. Mr. Stratton represented Larimer county in the Territorial Legislature of 1867-8, and was chosen sergeant at arms of the senate in the first State Legislature. In 1877, Governor Routt ap- pointed him a member of the State Board of Agri- culture and upon the organization of the board he was elected secretary, a position he held for several years. He was raised a farmer and followed that calling and that of dairying after coming to Colo- rado, until 1891, when he sold his farm and went with his family to Georgia, where he spent two years, returning then to Fort Collins. He was district court bailiff for five years. On December 30th, 1866, Mr. Stratton married Mrs. Elizabeth
Keays, and it was the first marriage solemnized in Fort Collins. Three daughters were the fruits of the union, two of them, Mrs. P. J. Mc Hugh of Fort Collins and Mrs. A. Anderson of Colton, California, with their mother, survive him. The third daughter, Miss Marguerite Stratton, preceded her father to the spirit world in 1901. Mr. Stratton was a charter member of Collins lodge No. 19 A. F. & A. M., and a member of the lodge when he died. For more than fifty years he had been a pioneer and frontiersman and had faith- fully done his part in developing the resources of the Great West. Elizabeth L. Park was born Feb- ruary 3rd, 1830, near Watertown, New York, and received her education at Coburg, Canada, where her father was engaged as a millwright. On October 2nd, 1854, she was married near Springfield, Illinois, to William Keays, who died in 1859, leaving a widow and a son, William P. Keays. Mrs. Keays came to Fort Collins in 1865 and on December 30th, 1866, was joined in mar- riage with Harris Stratton. Mrs. Stratton, though past four score years, is in the enjoyment of good health and retains all her mental faculties. She resides with her daughter, Mrs. P. J. McHugh.
MICHAEL GARDNER, one of Fort Collins best known and most highly respected citizens, was born June 26th, 1834, at St. Rose, Canada, and edu- cated in the public schools of his native town. On July 24th, 1854, he married Hattie Wolcott, but no children survive. He spent four years as a soldier in the Civil war, participating in several hard fought battles and was given an honorable dis- charge in 1865. He came to Colorado in 1877, and to Fort Collins in July, 1878. Here he carried on blacksmithing for more than twenty years, re- tiring with a competence in 1899. Since then he and his invalid wife have lived a quiet, peaceful life in a fine home at 354 E. Mountain avenue, which they have occupied for a third of a century. Mr. Gardner always did his work well and when he agreed to, and always dealt fairly and squarely with everyone. Mrs. Gardner has been a bed- ridden invalid for many years and so devoted is he to his helpless companion that he seldom leaves her bedside.
LEWIS WETZLER was born in June, 1842, in Germany, and educated in the common schools of his native town. He came to the United States at an early age and settled in Maine, where, in 1861, he married Melissa Weymouth. His surviving children are Charles, of Fort Collins, William,
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FRED M. WRIGHT
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
Edwin, and Arthur. He came to Greeley in 1871, and to Livermore, Larimer county, in 1873, locating on the Lone Pine. He planted the first orchard set out in the mountains and was laughed at by his neighbors, who said that fruit could not be grown in Livermore. He was not long in demon- strating that hardy fruits could be grown in that section and so turned the laugh on his dilatory neighbors. He sold his ranch in the '80's and moved his family to Fort Collins, thence to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1895, and to San Diego, California, in 1908, where he now resides.
FRED M. WRIGHT .- As a representative of the beet sugar industry in Colorado, who has done and is still doing a great deal to promote the manufac- ture of sugar from beets and who has met with more than ordinary success in his calling, Mr. Wright is a man for whom I take pleasure in writ- ing a biographical sketch for the history of Larimer county. Mr. Wright was born September 25th, 1869, at Bridgewater, Michigan. The beginning of his education was made in the rural schools of his native state, and then taking a course in the Clinton, Michigan, High school. His early life was spent on a farm and he is not only a theoretical but also a practical farmer. He was the son of George P. and Anna (Wier) Wright. His father is a native of the state of New York and was edu- cated for the Baptist ministry and served as general missionary in Colorado for that denomination a good many years, and his mother was born in Michi- gan where she met and married the father of our subject. Our subject was united in marriage with Hily Bond on July 24th, 1888, at Tecumseh, Michigan. She was born June 4th, 1868, in Schuyler county, New York, and educated in Michigan. Her father was of German descent and her mother, whose maiden name was Emma Doty, was born in Danville, Illinois. Soon after they were married Mr. and Mrs. Wright moved from Michigan to Denver, Colorado, where they resided until 1895 when they moved on to a farm situated between Loveland and Berthoud. Three years later they sold their farm and purchased the store at Laporte, Larimer county, which was their home until 1902 while Mr. Wright was carrying on the mercantile business. He was also postmaster at Laporte for three years. In the spring of 1902, Mr. Wright disposed of his interests at Laporte and moved his family to Fort Collins which city has since been the family home. On December 1st, 1902, our subject was appointed assistant agricul-
turist and two years later chief agriculturist of the Great Western Sugar company at Fort Collins, which position he filled with such a degree of ability, faithfulness and efficiency, that on October 1st, 1909, he was promoted to the important post of local manager of the Fort Collins sugar factory. He held this office until February 1st, 1911, when he resigned to take a position with the San Luis Valley Beet Sugar company which is building a new factory at Monte Vista, Colorado. Mr.
Wright is considered an expert in the cultivation and harvesting of sugar beets and in the manufac- ture and marketing of beet sugar, and has made good in whatever position he has been called upon to fill. He is a skilled, careful and methodical business man, trustworthy to a degree and prompt in the discharge of duty. The very fact that he rose from an humble but important position with the Sugar company to the responsible office of local manager of one of the largest beet sugar factories in the United States within a period of seven years, alone testifies to his industry, skill and ability, and to his integrity as a man. He has a beautiful and nicely furnished home at 719 Remington street, one of the finest residence streets in Fort Collins.
CAPT. WILLIAM M. POST, who spent 33 years on the sea and has been a citizen of Larimer county for 41 years, was born in 1823, in Essex, Connect- icut, a son of Russell and Jemima (Pelton) Post. His is descended from a Holland family that set- tled at Saybrook, Connecticut, in the early his- tory of that colony. At the age of thirteen, our subject went to sea as a cabin boy on the packet line to Mobile, Alabama. He sailed before the mast from 1836 to 1840 and was promoted to second and later to first-mate. He was master and part owner of a fine brig in 1846, making a num- ber of trips to Europe in the merchant service, visit- ing Liverpool, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Havre. From 1861 to 1864 he was master in the U. S. navy and executive officer of the store ship "Relief" and the gunboat "Sonoma" in the North Atlantic flying squadron, spending nine months in the West Indies after privateers. He was on the blockade off Charleston many months. He secured two prizes, one the "Virginia" and the other the steamer "Ida", both of which he brought to New York. He then engaged in the West India trade as commander of the brig "John R. Plater" until 1869, when he gave up a seafaring life. In June, 1870, Capt. Post came to Colorado, his family following in 1871, and pur- chased a farm in Pleasant valley on which he lived
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until 1880, when he rented the farm and moved to Fort Collins, where he has since resided. On May 27th, 1847, he married Almena T. Collins, who died in Connecticut on April 5th, 1862, and on March 30th, 1863, he married Emeline E. Jones in East Haddam, Connecticut. She was a daughter of A. P. and Emeline (Emmons) Jones, and a descendant of a family that settled in New
CAPT. WILLIAM M. POST
Haven, July 10, 1639. Capt. and Mrs. Post are the parents of a son and a daughter. The son, Frederick E. Post, was educated at the Colo- rado Agricultural college and is now a prominent Denver photographer. The daughter, Lillian E., who was also educated at the Agricultural college, is the wife of Harvey H. Griffin, Agricultural superintendent for the Great Western Sugar com- pany. Since moving to Fort Collins, Capt. Post has looked after his farm in Pleasant valley, dealt in real estate and has loaned money for eastern people, some of whom he never saw, but who have the utmost confidence in his judgment and in- tegrity. Although almost a nonagenarian, Capt. Post retains his faculties and a very large degree of physical vitality and is one of the most enter-
taining men to visit and chat with. He has always been an omnivorous reader and is familiar with a wide range of subjects with which to enliven con- versation.
HERMAN W. SCHROEDER .- Achievement has been the watchword of Mr. Schroeder from boy- hood. To get ahead in the world has been his fondest dream, and judging by results, his hopes and desires have been successfully realized. He came into this world on April 2nd, 1855, on Doty Island, near Neenah, Wisconsin, of German par- entage. Left without a father's guidance and pro- tecting care at an early age, he became the foster son of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron F. Watrous, of Char- lestown, Wisconsin, who sent him to school and treated him the same as an own child. When his school days were over, he learned the carpenter and joiners' trade, coming to Fort Collins in April, 1878. His sole capital then consisted of a stout
HERMAN W. SCHROEDER
heart, willing hands, honest purposes and a set of carpenter's tools. Of money in hand he had none. He arrived at his future home at an opportune time when Fort Collins was on the up-grade, and
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he had no difficulty in obtaining employment at his trade. He was steady, industrious, reliable and prudent, and being a good mechanic, he forged ahead with rapid strides, gaining an enviable stand- ing in the community as a man who, when he said he would do a thing, did it without ifs and ands. Many of the business blocks and handsome homes in the city of Fort Collins testify to his skill as a builder. Along in the late '80's he invested a part of his savings in a herd of cattle in North Park, which proved a successful venture. In 1881, Mr. Schroeder married Emma Bennett, and three child- ren came to bless the union, one of whom died in childhood. The survivors are Herman and Miss Beulah. The son is a successful drug clerk and the daughter a student in the local business college. Mr. Schroeder has represented his ward in the city council and is recognized as one of the solid, sub- stantial men of Fort Collins. He has a beautiful and nicely furnished cottage home on Matthews street, and one or two other cottages that are oc- cupied by tenants.
ROBERT O. ROBERTS was born January 8th, 1829, near Utica, New York. His father, Owen Roberts, was a native of North Wales, born on an estate where his ancestors had resided for many generations. His mother was born near Utica, and died in that city at the age of 47 years. His father, when well advanced in years, came to Colo- rado, dying several years ago at the age of 90. Our subject was the eldest of a family of ten child- ren, and received his education in the public schools of Oneida, county, New York. When 17 years of age he was apprenticed to the furniture busi- ness, and learned how to varnish, polish, paint and upholster furniture. In Watertown, New York, he was married to Mary Tuttle, who was born in that place, daughter of Theodore Tut- tle, a former citizen of Connecticut. Of this union there are five surviving children, Charles E., merchant and hotel keeper at Ingleside; George F. and Earnest W., stockmen of Livermore; Mrs. Eva May. Swan of Livermore, and Mrs. Grace Wills of Denver. Mr. Roberts came west with his family in 1874, arriving at Greeley on Febru- ary 7th. That same year he moved to Livermore and kept the Fisk hotel one year and then took up 160 acres of land on which he built the Forks hotel. This he conducted for seven years, then sold it. Soon afterwards he located on a 280-acre stock ranch on the North fork of the Caché la Poudre river, one mile north of the Livermore
postoffice, where his sons, George and Ernest now reside. Mr. Roberts embarked in the cattle busi- ness soon after coming to Colorado, in which he and his sons, George and Ernest have been very successful. The home ranch is improved with good buildings, corrals, and fences, and with or- chards and groves. He and his wife have been residents of Fort Collins for the past fourteen
ROBERT O. ROBERTS
years and they own valuable property on South Sherwood street. Though past four score and two years, Mr. Roberts retains remarkable vitality for one of his age.
TOM QUINN .- Thirty years in the employ of the Union Pacific and Colorado & Southern rail- road companies at Fort Collins, as foreman in charge of the mechanical department looking after repairs to cars and engines; appointed once and elected four times a member of the city council of his chosen home city, is the record that stands to the credit of Alderman Tom Quinn, one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of the county seat of Larimer county. During his thirty years residence in Fort Collins, Mr. Quinn
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
has been a booster and a builder and has been a large contributor to the growth and to the material and moral welfare of the city. Day in and day out he can always be found at his post of duty, steady, faithful and efficient, and there are but few men in the city whose annual rent roll exceeds his. Mr. Quinn was born February 22nd, 1860, in county Tipperary, Ireland, where he was edu-
TOM QUINN
cated. He came to the United States in 1874 and after spending two years at Council Bluffs, Iowa, pushed on farther west, arriving at Black Hawk, Colorado, in 1876. Here he served one year as messenger boy for former United States Senator Nathaniel P. Hill, who then had charge of exten- sive reduction works at that place. In 1877 our subject went to Leadville where he spent two years, returning to Denver in 1879. After working two years in the Union Pacific railroad shops in Den- ver, he was sent to Fort Collins to take charge of repair work here, and that city has since been his home. He married Elizabeth Owens, October 22nd, 1888 and they have two children, John F., and William W. Quinn.
MARSHALL MOORE, Fort Collins' popular, ac- commodating and very efficient postmaster, was born October 2nd, 1870, at Woodbine, Iowa, re- ceiving his education in the public schools of his native town and the Woodbine Normal school. He was' united in marriage with Jennie A. Smith on December 19th, 1891, and they have two children, Ethel M., and Gladys L., both at home. At 19 years of age, Mr. Moore went to work for the J. A. Boies Hardware company, where he learned the hardware, plumbing and heating business. He was employed by the Boies Hardware company until he bought a share in the business in 1897. Mr. Boies died in 1901, and in closing up his estate the business was sold. Our subject then engaged exclusively as contractor in the plumbing and heat- ing business until he came to Fort Collins in 1904 to take charge of that department in the J. A. Brown Hardware company's store, remaining with
MARSHALL MOORE
that company until the firm sold its business to the Barkley, Bouton & Crain Hardware company. He took some stock in the new company and was elected its secretary, a position he held until President Roosevelt appointed him postmaster for Fort Col-
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
lins, February 9th, 1909. He has been a strong republican in politics and is a recognized leader in the party. Since coming to Fort Collins in 1904, he has borne himself in such a manner as to win the confidence and respect of all who have had the good fortune to make his acquaintance. He is a stirring, ambitious man who believes in doing things, and doing them right. His manner of con- ducting the affairs of the postoffice has been of such a careful and methodical nature as not only to win the commendation of its patrons, but also of the United States postoffice department.
JACOB FLOWERS .- One of the pioneers of Pleas- ant Valley, was born July 4th, 1827, in Green county, Pennsylvania. On January 28th, 1853, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Meeks of Woods county, Virginia. He came to Larimer county with the Wyandotte Colony in 1873, and settled on a farm in Pleasant Valley, where he lived until death summoned him in 1898. He laid out and platted the town of Bellvue and was the first merchant of that village.
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