USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 71
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JACK Dow .- One of the most useful of the pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley, by reason of his profession and who did much during his residence in the county to develop the latent agri- cultural resources of Northern Colorado, was Jack Dow. He was born in 1839 in the City of New York, where he received his education and where he acquired the profession of civil engineering which he followed through life. In the early sixties he crossed the continent to California, via the Southern route through New Mexico and Arizona. The country not meeting his expectations, he started on the return trip to his native state in 1869. On the way east he stopped in Laporte and was so well pleased with the Cache la Poudre valley that he decided to locate and build himself a home. The country was new then and his services were in al- most constant demand for several years in running land lines and in laying out roads and irrigating ditches and superintending their construction. In 1874 he was elected county surveyor of Larimer county and served one term, and that year was joined in marriage with Helen Cuthbertson, a native of Scotland and a sister of John S. Cuth- bertson of Fort Collins, and James Cuthbertson of Timnath. In his capacity of civil engineer he laid out. and superintended the construction of several of the first irrigation ditches built in the Caché la Poudre valley, including the Arthur ditch, the
Larimer County No. 2 canal and the Pleasant Valley & Lake canal completing the latter in the year 1879. In 1880, Mr. Dow moved his family to Northern Wyoming, then a new country, and followed his profession and ranching until about the time of his death on November 11th, 1904. He left a widow but no children. Few men have ever lived in Larimer county who had more warm
JACK DOW
personal friends than Jack Dow. He was the soul of honor, upright in all his dealings and his in- tegrity was never called in question. 41
JOHN N. GORDON .- The subject of this sketch can adapt himself to all sorts of conditions and make good under any and all kinds of circum- stances. He is, in short a general utility man- just such a man as is needed in every community. He can teach school, edit and manage a newspaper, sell goods over the counter, deal out justice in court, buy and sell real estate, keep the town records, serve as a member of the school board, fill the post of secretary of the chamber of com- merce, or act as a newspaper correspondent. He can do all these things because he has done them,
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and done them well, too. He is well educated, honest as the day is long, has opinions of his own, and is firm in his convictions. Mr. Gordon was born April 18th, 1856, in Jefferson county, Indi- ana; educated in the preparatory school at Han- over, (Indiana) college, at Boyd's Commercial college, Louisville, Kentucky, and at Monmouth college, Monmouth, Illinois, where he graduated
JOHN N. GORDON
in 1880 with the degree of A. B. and later re- ceiving the degree of A. M. He came to Colo- rado in 1880 and located at Loveland, which city is still his home; married Minnie R. Clark, June 30th, 1886, and has two children, Morris C. and Deane B. Gordon. He has been justice of the peace six successive terms, taught school three years, edited the Loveland Register one year, merchant nine years, real estate dealer a number of years, secretary of the Loveland Chamber of Commerce three years, member of the school board one term, city clerk two terms and newspaper correspondent for twenty-five years and hasn't turned his sixtieth year yet. He can easily be set down as a man of marked versatility of accomplishment.
ASA M. HORNER .- Mr. Horner was born March 27th, 1848, in Gloucester county, New Jer- sey, and was reared on a farm 20 miles south of Philadelphia. He obtained his education in the district school, at a boy's boarding school in Norris- town, Pennsylvania, and at Fort Edward, New York. Failing health admonished him to seek a dryer climate, so he came to Greeley in 1872, where he spent six weeks and then came to near where Timnath is now and lived with Harry and Frank Scott. He and another man worked a month for Bob Strauss, and Bob called them his clerks. After that he spent three months on the Redstone chop- ping fence poles for Harry Scott. In the spring of 1873, he filed a homestead claim on land that is now partly covered by the Timnath reservoir. He engaged in wool growing with Royal Cobb until the ditches were built east of them, when the range was taken for farms. He then sold his sheep
FOUR GENERATIONS OF THE HORNER FAMILY, ASA M. HORNER TO THE RIGHT
and bought 160 acres of railroad land and turned his attention to farming. In 1876 Mr. Horner re- turned to New Jersey to visit old friends and at- tend the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia.
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James luther tron
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
While east, the asthma which had caused him to come to Colorado seized him again, and he was obliged to cut short his visit and return west. In speaking of his experience, Mr. Horner said, "it required a year in Colorado to regain what he lost in the five weeks spent in New Jersey." Fearing to visit his old home again very soon, one of the Jersey girls, Hannah M. Edwards, came to Fort Collins on February 21st, 1879, and was joined with him in marriage. The ceremony took place at the Agricultural hotel which then stood where the postoffice is now, and was performed by Rev. C. A. Brooks of the Methodist church. Five children were born to them; Henry, George, Alice, Jesse and Eula. All are living but Alice. In 1893 he ventured to go east again with his family and visited the World's fair in Chicago, also Washing- ton, Philadelphia and Niagara Falls. In 1903 he moved to Fort Collins to give his younger child- ren a chance to attend High school. In 1898, Mr. Horner purchased a summer home in the Laramie river valley, where he spends the summer months, finding health and strength by climbing hills and sporting with gamey trout. In 1910 with his wife and daughter, he visited two of his sons of Cody, Wyoming, and later toured Yellowstone Park on a camping trip, returning to Fort Collins in August.
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JAMES CUTHBERTSON, son of William and Helen (Symington) Cuthbertson of Berwickshire, Scotland, was born September 2nd, 1852. His father was a burgess and traces his ancestry back to St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, who died March 20th, A. D. 687. He was consecrated at York during the Easter festival by Theodore, arch- bishop of Canterbury, but only exercised his episco- pal office two years. He was noted for his piety, and his austere and secluded mode of living added greatly to the estimation in which he was held, and as usual at that period, the performance of miracles was freely ascribed to him. The ancestors of Helen (Symington) Cuthbertson, mother of our subject, were given a grant of land by the crown in the 14th century, on condition that they house and pro- tect the traveling monks who went about the coun- try building abbeys and cathedrals. It is worthy of note that for centuries there has been a Helen in the Symington family and its various branches. Berwickshire is a maritime county of Scotland, forming its southeastern extremity, and has a nota- ble history. The county derives its name from the borough of Berwick, one of the few remaining
walled towns in the United Kingdom. The town suffered much during the Border wars. Lauder is the name of the village in which Mr. Cuthbert- son was born and here he received his education. He emigrated to the United States in his youth, stopping in New York city, going thence to Chi- cago in 1871, shortly after the big fire in that city. He came to Fort Collins in 1872 and located on a tract of land three miles southeast of Fort Collins which he improved and successfully cultivated for nearly thirty years. About ten years ago he sold his farm and purchased another near Timnath on which he now resides. He has been a successful farmer and stock feeder and has amassed a com- fortable competence. He ranks high as a citizen, farmer, friend and neighbor and is warmly esteemed by all who know him. He is a man of strong con- victions and is ready at all times to defend his opin- ions by fair, intelligent argument in which he is seldom worsted. Mr. Cuthbertson has never mar- ried and is therefore heart whole and fancy free. Politically, he is a republican of the strictest sort and while he takes an active interest in public affairs and is well informed upon all important public questions, he has never been an office seeker and has never held a public office. He prefers the con- dition of an independent sovereign to that of a public serf. Fraternally, Mr. Cuthbertson is a Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar, being a member of Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M .; Cache la Poudre chapter No. 11 R. A. M. and of De Molay commandry No. 13, K. T., all of Fort Collins. He is a warm hearted, genial gentlemen, a prince socially and has hosts of friends in Larimer county, of which he has been a resident for nearly forty years.
HON. NEIL F. GRAHAM, appointed Judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Colorado, by Governor John F. Shafroth, January 11th, 1911, to fill the vacancy created by the election of Hon. James E. Garrigues as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, was born March 5th, 1866, at Komoka, Ontario. At the age of five years he emigrated with his father's family from Canada to Wash- ington county, Kansas, where he was reared on a farm. He received a college education at the Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. After pur- suing a course at law, he was admitted to the bar in Kansas in 1893, and continued to practice his profession until he was appointed district judge. Judge Graham was united in marriage with Dura G. Evans, April 12th, 1898, at Washington, Kan-
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sas, and they have one child, a daughter, Margaret. He moved with his family from Kansas to Fort Collins, arriving August 8th, 1907, and shortly thereafter opened an office with J. J. Herring for the practice of law. He at once took high rank with the members of the Larimer county bar and is recognized as a close and indefatigable student, an able leader, a conscientious and reliable ad-
HON. NEIL F. GRAHAM
vocate and as a man learned in the law. Since being elevated to the bench of the district court, Judge Graham has met with hearty endorsement for the fairness and impartiality of his rulings and for his conception of the principles of the law, and as a private citizen he is held in the highest esteem for manly, upright bearing. He is a valued mem- ber of the Fort Collins board of education and his interests in the cause of popular education and his influence in the management of the public schools are highly regarded. Politically Judge Graham is a democrat and while a citizen of Kansas, he repre- sented that state in the National Democratic con- ventions of 1896 and 1900.
ELMER ELWOOD KEACH was born June 22nd, 1872, at Greeley; parents from New Hampshire,
his father being a veteran of the Civil war and his mother a relative of Henry Ward Beecher. She died at Livermore, Colorado, April 30th, 1878. Our subject grew to manhood on what is known as the Cradock ranch; married Milly O. Aldrich, October 3rd, 1895 and she died June 17th, 1896; married for his second wife, Carrie E. Lowery, January 1st, 1901, who died April 6th, 1909. In company with his father, H. A. Keach, he owned and operated a cattle ranch at Alford, 30 miles northwest of Fort Collins, selling the ranch and stock in October, 1910, and removing to Seattle, Washington, for the benefit of father's health. Our subject was postmaster at Alford from May, 1899 to February 15th, 1909, and was for 12 years superintendent of the Sunday school at Livermore and also an elder of the Union Presbyterian church at that place. Mr. Keach has three children, Lewis E., born August 25th, 1902; Florence E., born September 19, 1905; Carrie E., born April 6th, 1909.
JAMES McGINLEY, born October 7th, 1812, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch- Irish parentage. He married May Armstrong, March 9, 1837, and came from Michigan to the Caché la Poudre valley in 1874, locating on a farm one mile north of Timnath, where he lived until death called him, April 1st, 1896. He left two sons, James W. McGinley of Stratton Park, and Armstrong McGinley who died a few years ago in California. He died as he had lived, a true man, faithful to himself, faithful to mankind and faith- ful to his Maker.
ALLEN P. GREENACRE .- The sons of Illinois have figured largely as adjuncts in the development of the industrial resources of Larimer county and in advancing its material, social and educational standards. Nowhere do we find better, more wide- awake, active and energetic specimens of manhood, than among those who came west from the great Sucker state, and our subject is one of them. He first opened his eyes upon the things of this world on Christmas day, 1873, at Bristol, Illinois. He came to Fort Collins in May, 1886, and obtained his education in the public schools of that city and at the Colorado Agricultural college. After re- ceiving a B. S. degree, he remained with his alma mater as an instructor in the department of Mechanical Engineering from 1896 to 1902, re- signing then to engage in ranching and the stock business at Boxelder canon with his brothers,
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Harold and Edgar Greenacre, following these oc- cupations until November, 1910, when he was elected County Clerk and Recorder, receiving the largest majority of any one man on the republican ticket. He soon after moved his family to Fort Collins and entered upon his official duties on January 10th, 1911. Though still interested with
ALLEN P. GREENACRE
his brothers in the ranch and cattle business, he is not now directly connected with its management. On October 31st, 1903, he was united in marriage with Carolyn L. Wood, a Greeley lady who had been a popular and successful teacher in the public schools of Fort Collins. She graduated from the State Normal School in 1898 with high honors. One daughter, Esther Florence, has come to bless the union. Mr. Greenacre is what is known in western parlance as a "hustler" and has scores of warm personal friends in every part of the county. He is democratic in bearing and manner and is making a very popular and efficient public official.
BENJAMIN B. HARRIS .- On a farm near Love- land, Clermont county, Ohio, the subject of this sketch was born. The farm was situated along the Little Miami river, about 18 miles north of
Cincinnati. The B. B. of his name stand for Benjamin Butterworth, the noted Ohio congress- man and a cousin of Mr. Harris, and our subject's youthful days were spent in the companionship of that cousin, since famous in the councils of the nation. Mr. Harris was born in 1836, and in 1850, the family moved from Ohio to Iowa, locat- ing at Iowa City. For fifteen years he lived in that vicinity engaged in farming and the raising of cat- tle and hogs. In 1867 he went to Cass county, that state, and assisted in founding the City of Atlantic. In 1886, Mr. Harris came to Fort Collins and purchased a choice tract of land adjoining the Colorado Agricultural college farm on the south, which he improved by erecting new buildings and planting an orchard, and where he became noted as one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Larimer county. He was an ardent lover of fine cattle and went to great expense in procuring the best blooded animals he could find with which to stock his
BENJAMIN B. HARRIS
farm, and his cattle always topped the market when placed on sale. He was a leader in the development of the agricultural and stock grow- ing possibilities of the Caché la Poudre valley and
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as he set the pace, others followed. He was thorough in all his work and his farm today is one of the model farms of the county. He had charge as overseer of the college farm a few years, and aided and encouraged by the State Board of Agriculture, he succeeded in bringing it to its present high standard of productiveness and use- fulness. Mr. Harris retired from active business pursuits, in April, 1908, and went with his wife to California, but was brought back to Fort Collins a year later in a dying condition. He passed away August 1st, 1909. Mr. Harris married Almira Douglass, April 21st, 1857, and his surviving chil- dren are Mrs. Anna Lamb, Mrs. Nellie Mor- gareidge, Mrs. Grant Morseman, Mrs. Ida Wil- son and Fred W. Harris.
R. G. MAXWELL was born April 21st, 1860, in Peoria county, Illinois, and educated in the country schools of Peoria county; married Minnie Hann, December 25th, 1889; his children are named Paul, Park, Ray, Ralph, Warren and Wilbur Maxwell; came to Larimer county in 1900, and is a successful and prosperous farmer and good citizen.
REV. FRANKLIN MOORE .- There are few men in the world we imagine who have done nobler, more self-sacrificing, more efficient and more ac- ceptable work in the Master's field than the sub- ject of this sketch. As a missionary, he has traveled thousands of miles in all kinds of weather, in the mountains and on the Plains, to meet his appoint- ments and preach the gospel to the people. Mr. Moore was born March 15th, 1855, in Salem county, New Jersey, the son of christian parents. He came to the Caché la Poudre valley in 1878, and taught school for several years, first in the old log cabin, known as the Buss school house, and then in Timnath school house. In February, 1880, he married Martha L. Peterson of New Jersey, and they settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Charles Roys, north of Timnath. He was superintendent of the Timnath Sunday school for 12 successive years. In 1892, he began the study of theology, taking charge that year of the Fossil Creek Presbyterian church as pastor. He was or- dained in 1895 and remained in charge of that church for eleven years, doing missionary work at Virginia Dale, Livermore, Bellvue and Stout dur- ing that time. In 1905, he took charge of the Hillsboro Presbyterian church, serving it as pastor for three years, also doing mission work at school houses in the Big Thompson valley. In 1908 he
returned to his home at Fossil Creek and engaged in circuit work at Virginia Dale, Livermore and Waverly, taking charge of a mission at Masonville, preaching at each of these places once in two weeks. During the summer season he also preached at Boxelder, Adams, Log Cabin and Elkhorn on week days. During all of these 19 years of strenuous work, his good wife has been a constant help and
REV. AND MRS. FRANKLIN MOORE
encouragement. She is a great lover of home and Mr. Moore freely admits that it has been only through her patience, economy and sacrifice that they have been able to secure and maintain their much appreciated home at Fossil Creek. Seven children have been born to them, five of whom are still living. They are Mrs. Edith Franz and Attie D., Elizabeth T., Ralph F., and Alma Meta Moore.
CORWIN R. WELCH .- He who contributes with his energy or his means to the material and com- mercial prosperity of his chosen home; who, by his foresight and judgment, assists in the development of its resources; in whose hands large financial trusts are placed and safely held and faithfully guarded; who never betrayed the trust or know-
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ingly wronged another; such a one may justly be called a benefactor. To this class belongs Corwin R. Welch, a former merchant prince of Fort Col- lins and now President of the First National Bank of Fort Collins, and one of the city's most enter- prising and progressive citizens. It would be impossible to write an accurate history of Fort Collins and omit mention of his connection with the growth of the city which has been his home since 1883, and the principal scene of his financial suc- cesses. The supremacy and commercial importance of Fort Collins is due in a large measure to his business acumen and sagacity, for he was one of the foremost in using his influence and means in securing the building of the sugar factory and in introducing manufacturing enterprises and business projects that would 'be of permanent value to this place. Not alone in promoting and forwarding enterprises calculated to advance the material pros- perity of Fort Collins, has he been conspicuous. He has been an active and diligent worker in church and temperance movements, and has contributed largely of his means to the building up and support of churches of various denominations, and to the advancing of the cause of temperance, being one of the strong and persistent instrumentalities in the warfare which resulted a few years ago in banishing the open saloons from Fort Collins. Mr. Welch was born January 15th, 1848, in Mogadore, Ohio, of Holland-Scotch-Irish ancestry. He secured the foundation of his education in the public schools of Akron, Ohio, upon which he later built a thor- ough knowledge of the business and commercial affairs of the country. To these acquirements he has since added a broader and deeper knowledge of the world by study and extensive travel and tours in foreign lands as well as in his own country. In 1872, he married Julia Stansbury of Greeley, who bore him one child, a daughter, who is now Mrs. Laura Hoar, of New York City. He married for his second wife, Mary T. Thomas at Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 5th, 1884. In the fall of 1870, he came with Union colony to Greeley, being one of the original colonists. During the six succeeding years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Greeley, going thence in 1876 to Boulder to engage in the business, where he remained seven years and then came to Fort Collins, which has since been his home. Here he conducted the largest and most popular dry goods store in Northern Colorado, retiring therefrom in 1900 to devote his time and attention to other important personal interests. He was a director and vice-president of the First National
bank of Fort Collins for ten successive years, and is now President of this bank. Mr. Welch has a beautiful home on South College avenue, situated amid attractive surroundings, and here with all the comforts and luxuries the heart could wish, includ- ing an extensive and well selected library and many choice works of art, gathered during his travels, he is spending his declining years. He is an active member of the First Presbyterian church and in politics is a republican.
ISAAC B. HARRIS
ISAAC B. HARRIS, son of George and Sarah (Daniels) Harris, was born May 5th, 1859, at Truro, Nova Scotia, where he received his educa- tion. His father was born near Ottawa, Canada, of English parents, and was a soldier in the British army. His mother was born in Nova Scotia, of Scotch parents. Our subject was the youngest son of the family and grew to manhood in his native town. In 1880 he came to Colorado and after spending a few months in Idaho Springs and in Middle Park, moved to Fort Collins, which place has since been his home. On December 24th, 1885, he was joined in marriage with Mary Lillian Elton, daughter of Rev. E. N. Elton, who was then pastor
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of the First Baptist church of Fort Collins. Nine children were born of the union and their names are: Arthur V., Elton G., Margaret, Edna, Estella, Carroll, Lillian, Alvord. For many years after Mr. Harris came to Larimer county, he success- fully followed farming, stock raising and stock feeding, but is now a dealer in hay, grain, flour and feed on Jefferson street. He built the Blaine hotel and a block of stores and shops on Pine street and still owns them; is also the owner of some very productive farms in the Cache la Poudre valley. His son, Arthur, is a job printer by trade and his second son, Elton G., is studying for the ministry. His eldest daughter, Margaret, is a grad- uate of the Fort Collins High school, class of 1911.
FREDERICK A. MORTON .- Born November 29th, 1860, at New Hampton, Iowa; raised on a farm and attended district school; went to Kansas when a boy and lived in that state until he came to Fort Collins in 1903; learned trade .of blacksmith, an occupation he followed for 20 years; is a farmer now; married Margaret R. Davis in 1881, in Kan- sas; has six children; Mrs. Katie Bright, Mrs. Blanche Caywood, Mrs. Dolly Bright and Gilbert, Arthur and Ellen Morton all three at home.
JAMES EZRA PLUMMER was born November 12th, 1832, in Highland county, Ohio, where he was educated; moved to Iowa at an early age where on April 15th, 1863, he married Sarah L. Garrett; six children, Willard, Vernon, Ella, Denver, Effie and Rose were the fruits of the union; came to Black Hawk, Colorado, in 1860, freighting a ten stamp quartz mill; was the first deputy sheriff appointed in Colorado Territory ; superintendent of the Dalton & Bates mining property from 1865 to 1866. Mr. Plummer crossed the Plains six times with a freight- ing outfit; returning to Iowa in 1866 and carried on farming until 1882, when he returned to Colorado and located on a farm near Fort Collins, where he lived until death called him home on September 8th, 1897. His widow died February 10th, 1900.
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