USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 74
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WILLIAM O'BRIEN .- Many of Scotland's brave lads and bonnie lasses have crossed the broad At- lantic during the past twenty-five years to become citizens of the Cache la Poudre valley. They have foresworn allegiance to the British crown and have
WILLIAM O'BRIEN
taken upon themselves the responsibilities and as- sumed the honors of American citizenship. They are now loyal citizens of the greatest Republic on earth, and are proud to be numbered among the defenders of the Stars and Stripes and the institu- tions the flag represents. They are industrious, prudent and thrifty, and are enrolled among the best citizens of Larimer county. Among those who forsook their ancestral homes in Scotland to seek new scenes, new friends and new homes and fort- unes in Colorado, was William O'Brien, who, for the past eleven years, has been Superintendent of the Colorado Agricultural college farm, and has discharged its duties and shouldered its responsi- bilities in a manner that has given entire satisfac-
tion to the State Board of Agriculture and reflect- ed credit upon himself. Mr. O'Brien first saw the light of day on December 18th, 1862, in Aber- deenshire, Scotland. He was born on a farm and received his education in the public schools of the period. Following the example of thousands of his countrymen, he came to the United States to better his condition, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1887. While about the docks in that city in 1888, he noticed that a shipment of horses was be- ing unloaded from a transatlantic steamer that had just arrived and closer observation convinced him that the animals had come from his own country and upon inquiry he learned that the horses belong- ed to Jesse Harris and that he was going to ship them to Colorado. He immediately sought out Mr. Harris and asked for employment in loading the horses on the cars and in caring for them enroute. Mr. Harris said to him "I have about all the help I need, but if you want to go along, I will take you through but will not agree to pay you wages dur- ing the trip." Mr. O'Brien jumped at the chance and that is how it is that he is a Coloradoan to- day. It was not long after he arrived in Fort Col- lins until he and two of his countrymen, John Fraser and Charles Willox, bought the Austin Mason farm of 120 acres, which they cultivated in company until Mr. O'Brien was appointed to the position he now holds at the college. In 1890 Mr. O'Brien married Jane Fraser and they have nine children, Jennie, William, Jesse, Marshall, Annie, Lorna, Nellie, Alice and Bessie, all at home. He is an expert farmer and has served the state and college well as farm superintendent and given the best of satisfaction. Mrs. O'Brien, nee Frazer, is also a native of Scotland. She came to Colorado in 1890 to marry the sweetheart of her girlhood days and has never had occassion to regret the voyage across the Atlantic. She is a model wife and mother and her home is the abiding place of love, contentment and happiness.
JOHN McNEY .- A pioneer Livermore ranch- man and stockman, died on December 31st, 1901, at the family home, aged seventy years. Mr. Mc- Ney was born in 1831, in Sheffield, England, his parents being natives of Scotland. He came to the United States in 1856, locating first in South Carolina. Later he went to New York City and obtained employment in A. T. Stewart's dry goods store. From there he went to Galesburg, Illi- nois, and in 1867, he drove a six mule team, loaded with government supplies for Gen. Custer from
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Leavenworth to Wyoming. While on this trip he rescued a soldier's wife and three children from the Indians. In 1868 he drove an ox team to Colo- rado. The following year he hauled government supplies to Fort Ellis. He married Frances Stew- art at Leavenworth in 1875, and that year started across the Plains with a herd of cattle and settled on a ranch eight miles west of Livermore, where he lived for twenty-six years, successfully engaged in the stock business. He left a wife and three sons, Stewart, Walter and John, all residents of Larimer county.
CALVIN I. WOODS was born February 25th, 1840, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio; graduated at Gran- ville, Ohio; married May Isabelle Harris, Sep- tember 11th, 1867; children's names, George D., Frank T., Mrs. Lura M. Garbutt, Joseph H., Mrs. Zelma I. Smith, Mrs. Mabel C. Brown, Mrs. Jessie Newsome. Mr. Woods crossed the Plains in 1872 with a herd of cattle and located on a ranch in Livermore. In 1880, he sold his ranch and cattle and moved to Fort Collins and that city has since been the family home. Mr. Woods built the stone house on the farm on the Laporte road west of Fort Collins, now owned by S. B. Griffin, where he died in the spring of 1891. Mr. Woods was one of Larimer county's foremost citizens. He possessed the confidence and respect of all who knew him and was highly esteemed as a neighbor and friend.
JOHN H. PAYSON was born June 28th, 1857, in Hope, Knox county, Maine; reared on a farm and attended district and high school at Camden and Rockport, in his native state; came west in the spring of 1880 and spent two years in Wyoming, employed on a cattle ranch for Alford, Emerson brothers and Joseph Kennedy, coming then to Fort Collins which place is still his home. On Sept- ember 24th, 1884, Mr. Payson married Alice M. Guest and they have one daughter, Mildred at home, their only son dying December 27th, 1908, while in his Sophomore year at the Colorado Agri- cultural college. For four years after his mar- riage, Mr. Payson followed farming in the Caché la Poudre valley and then located on a mountain stock ranch at Stratton park, where the family lived until 1905, moving then to Fort Collins to educate their children. Since then he has busied himself in improving his home and in building houses for sale and for rent. Mr. Payson is an industrious, prudent, quiet man and public spirited citizen and has an enviable standing in the com-
munity. Our subject was the third child in order of birth of Guilford M. and Sarah Amanda ( Hobbs) Payson, both of whom were natives of Hope, Maine, and descendants of a Colonial family. The father was a ship carpenter by occupation at first, later becoming a merchant and then a farmer. He was the father of eight children three of them dying in their infancy, and five surviving. He served three
JOHN H. PAYSON
years as a soldier in the Civil war; his father was a soldier of 1812, and his grandfather served in the Continental army during the revolutionary war, which shows that our subject comes from fight- ing stock.
JOHN O. WILLIAMS, expert in charge of the gov- ernment horse station in Fort Collins, was born March 10th, 1885, in Vendocia, Ohio. He attended the public and High school at Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from the University of that state in 1908 with the degree of bachelor of science in agricult- ure. On March 16th, 1908, he was appointed scientific assistant in animal husbandry in the United States department of agriculture, stationed at Washington, D. C. In October of that year he
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
was transferred to the Fort Collins station, where he still remains engaged in the work of producing a distinctly American type of carriage horse in which he is meeting with marked success.
JOHN D. DAVIS .- Among the foreign born resi- dents of Larimer county who left their native land to seek homes and fortunes in the United States
JOHN D. DAVIS
and who settled in the Cache la Poudre valley at an early date, not many stood higher in the esti- mation of their fellow pioneers than the four Davis brothers, Ebenezer, John D., Thomas and David. They were esteemed for their industry, their probity and integrity, for their genuine hospitality and good citizenship. But it is of John D. in particular, we wish to speak in this sketch. He was born on March 14th, 1836, in Wales, and came to the United States in 1854, when 18 years of age. As a young man he worked in the Lake Superior copper mines a few years and later in the Ohio coal mines. On August 18th, 1863, he mar- ried Leah Jones, leaving in the spring of 1864 for Colorado, in company with his brother David and family, both coming to join their brother Ebenezer,
who located in the Cache la Poudre valley in 1859. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John D. Davis and their names are Thomas L. Davis of Timnath, Mrs. Rachael Davis of Loveland and John S. Davis, who is assistant cashier of the First National bank of Greeley. When Mr. Davis first came to Larimer county he filed on an 80-acre homestead near the present village of Timnath and preempted a tract of 120 acres adjoining his home- stead. The Riverside School house stands on the land he homesteaded. He at once engaged in the cattle business in connection with general farming in which he continued for almost a quarter of a century, with excellent success. He sold his farm and disposed of his herds in 1885 and moved to Greeley, where he died July 11th, 1910. His widow resides with her son, John S., at Greeley. The eldest son, Thomas L., was the third white child born in the Cache la Poudre valley, the first being Frederick Sherwood, son of Mr. and Mrs.
MRS. JOHN D. DAVIS
Jesse M. Sherwood, who was born in 1862. Mrs. Davis was born December 28th, 1843, in Wales. After locating in the Cache la Poudre valley Mr. Davis hauled hay cut with a scythe and baled in a
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Jours & Vandwork
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
hand press to Forts Hall, Fetterman and Laramie and Mrs. Davis looked after the home, milked the cows and made butter which sold for a big price in those days. She paid Joseph Mason $75 each for unbroken heifers with which to begin her dairy. One time in 1865, fearing an Indian raid she car- ried the infant Thomas into the meadow and with him hid in the tall grass. A neighbor, Mrs. Pin- kerton, placed her seven children into a boat and with them hid in the willows, and then with bated breath listened through the night so that if the clat- tering hoofs of Indian ponies in the distance should warn her that she was on the wrong side of the river she could cross to the opposite side into the protecting shadows of a cottonwood grove, because it was also necessary to avoid being found by the Indian dogs.
JAMES F. VANDEWARK, President of the River- side Ice & Storage company; President of the Fort Collins chamber of commerce and one of the fore- most business men of that city, was born December 22nd, 1870, in Beatrice, Nebraska. He was the second son in order of birth of Elmer E. and Liz- zie N. (Giles) Vandewark, who came from Nebraska to Fort Collins in 1873 and located on a farm in Pleasant valley, near the village of Bell- vue. The father of our subject was born in James- town, New York, of Holland Dutch descent, his grandfather coming from Holland and settling at Chautauqua lake, New York, early in the Nine- teenth century. He was a good farmer and an excel- lent citizen, never neglecting any duty he owed his God, his family or his country, and his death several years ago was deeply lamented. The subject of this sketch was but three years of age when his father settled in Larimer county. He grew to manhood on his father's farm and received his education in the public schools of Larimer county. In June, 1893, he married Grace Harris, daughter of D. M. Harris, a pioneer hotel keeper of Fort Collins, and two children, Edith and Floyd, were born of the union. The son is a student at Winona Lake, (Indiana) school for boys, and the daughter is with her mother at Alliance, Nebraska. For his second wife, Mr. Vandewark married Helen K. Devers on May 12th, 1909. She was born in New York City. She came to Colorado with her parents in 1885, and was educated in the public schools of Larimer county. Mr. and Mrs. Vande- wark have a beautiful home on West Mountain avenue. In 1892, Mr. Vandewark established himself in the transfer and coal business, adding
the dealing in ice three years later. He built the first and only artificial ice plant established in Fort Collins. This plant was torn down in 1910 to make room for the tracks of the Union Pacific railroad. Mr. Vandewark then organized the Riverside Ice & Storage company and at once pro- ceeded to build and equip the largest and best ap- pointed artificial ice plant in Colorado, north of Denver. After selling the old plant to the rail- road company, he disposed of his coal and transfer business to the Fort Collins, Coal, Seed and Trans- fer company, and has since given his time and at- tention to the manufacture, sale and delivery of pure ice. He employs a large number of men and teams in carrying on his business, in which he has been preeminently successful, and is rated as one of the most active and influential business men of his home city. He has been a member of the Fort Collins chamber of commerce ever since it was organized and has taken a leading part in all of the public activities of that organization. At the last annual meeting of that body he was chosen president for the current term and is discharging the duties of the position with marked ability and enterprise. By his energy, industry and enterprise and by care- ful and prudent management, Mr. Vandewark has built up, from small beginnings, a large establish- ment by means of which he is supplying not only his own city but neighboring towns as well with a prime necessity and in all his transactions he is strictly reliable, prompt and painstaking. He is one of the most loyal of citizens and has great faith in the future of Fort Collins and Larimer county, of which he has been a resident nearly all his life. He is a member of the board of directors of the First National bank, of the Masonic lodge, of the B. P. O. Elks and of the Woodman of the World.
PHILANDER RICKETTS .- Early in youth the sub- ject of this sketch made his choice of a profession and at the age of twenty, he was successfully train- ing the young idea in the public schools of Indiana, in which state he was born on a farm in 1848. By teaching and attending college alternately, he grad- uated from Wabash college with high honors in 1878. Overwork and devotion to study under- mined his health, compelling him to abandon his chosen line of work, and to seek some other occu- pation in a different clime. Taking a life partner in 1879, in the person of Julia Thomas, the couple came West immediately and settled on a farm near Fort Collins, engaging in agriculture and stock rais- ing pursuits. Mr. Ricketts is a man of scholarly
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attainments. Four sons and two daughters have blessed their happy home. Dr. Joy Ricketts and Mrs. Mabel Startzer are the daughters, and Hubert, Richard, Julian and Stanley, the sons.
JOHN R. SAMUELS, son of Harvey H. Samuels, a pioneer of the Big Thompson valley, was born March 27th, 1841, in Warren county, Illinois, where he attended the public schools. He came
JOHN R. SAMUELS
with his father's family to Larimer county, in 1863, when 22 years of age. He assisted his father on the farm for several years and then he and his brother, F. M. Samuels, went into partnership to engage in farming and stock raising, which they followed for more than thirty years, with marked success. They then sold their holdings and retired, each with a handsome fortune. Our subject re- mained a single man until 1893, when on December 5th, he married Mrs. Carrie Clark, from whom he was divorced December 18th, 1905. Two chil- dren, Willie and Edith Lillian, were born of the union. The death of Willie in 1906, at the age of 11 years, was a severe blow to the father, one from which he never quite recovered as he was very
fond of his children. He did not remarry but lived single the remainder of his life. When he died on November 28th, 1908, he was considered one of the wealthy men of Loveland. Mr. Samuels was a man of strong convictions, honest, reliable and an excellent citizen. He believed in trying to do what was right for right's sake and not because of any creed or religious denomination. Politically, he adhered to the principles of the democratic party and voted his party ticket at State and National elections. In local matters he voted for the men whom he believed to be the best qualified for the office they sought. His death removed from the activities of life a man who had done much to develop the resources of Larimer county.
J. M. SHAFFER .- Away down southwest in Delta county, Colorado, at Austin, may be found an old-time resident of Fort Collins, J. M. Shaffer, now actively engaged in fruit growing. In the year 1874, Mr. Shaffer, with his parents, left Dela- ware county, Indiana, overland bound for Atlantic, Iowa. After a short stay, not satisfied with the outlook, they harnessed up again, driving through to Fort Collins, arriving here May 28, 1879. The country was very attractive to them and Mr. Shaffer drove his stakes for a long stay. He was born at Covington, Miami county, Ohio, Septem- ber 30, 1852, and was educated in the public schools. He was married in Fort Collins to Mary A. Harris, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Harris, September 30, 1879. For several years Mr. Shaf- fer was employed as a salesman for firms in Fort Collins, and in 1906 branched out on his own ac- count, conducting the Collins Cash grocery. Al- ways an affable and courteous gentleman, he en- deared himself to many who regretted his departure after 30 years' residence in Larimer county.
DANIEL L. POWERS .- Born in 1838 in New Jersey; died March 23, 1908, aged seventy years. Mr. Powers was a wheelwright by occupation. He came to Colorado in 1868 and to Fort Collins in 1870. Here he formed a partnership with William P. Morgan in the wagon making and blacksmithing business, Mr. Powers doing the wood- work and Mr. Morgan the blacksmithing. This arrangement existed for about ten years, when Mr. Powers withdrew from the firm to accept the agency for the sale of the McCormick farm im- plements, which he held for about twenty-two years. He was the first wagon maker to open a shop in Fort Collins and carry on the work of his trade continuously for a term of years, though James A.
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
Brown began doing work of that kind at odd spells two years before Mr. Powers located here. The deceased left a wife and three children, Clar- ence L. and two married daughters, Mrs. Eva E. Durand of Windsor, and Mrs. Daisy Valentine, of Johnstown.
HON. LEDRU R. RHODES was born on February 12th, 1849, in Licking county, Ohio, and attended the public schools of. that county. On the 8th of January, 1874, he was married to. Eppie Cowan, of Fort Collins, who died in 1886, and a few years later, Mr. Rhodes took as a second wife, Luella Mason, the widow of Joseph Mason, an early set- tler of Larimer county. Mr. Rhodes has now liv- ing a daughter, Mrs. Helene J. Anderson, who resides at Los Angeles, California. The arrival of Mr. Rhodes in Colorado dates on the 17th day of March, 1872, in which year he came to Fort Col- lins. There are few men more fully endowed by nature with those qualities which, if their possessor is allowed the advantages of scholastic culture, lead to eminence at the bar or as a public speaker. Upon his arrival in Fort Collins, Mr. Rhodes tried his hand at several occupations and at last, in 1873, opened an office in that city for the practice of the law. In 1874 he was elected city attorney, and in 1878 he was chosen to represent the people of Lari- mer county in the State senate. As a senator he made a record of which he has a right to be proud. During his service of four years, he was a member of important committees and never neglected the interests of his constituents. His most important service, perhaps, was as a member of the committee on irrigation, where his experience in irrigation matters in the Poudre yalley eminently fitted him to act intelligently in the formation of the body of irrigation laws which were enacted in 1879. The wisdom of these laws. has been more and more re- cognized as the years have passed. Mr. Rhodes was also a member of the judiciary committee which drafted the practice act for courts of record now in operation in this state. In 1883 and 1884 he was chosen as attorney for the Colorado Cattle Growers association. In 1885 he was elected district attorney for the counties of Arapahoe, Larimer and Weld, defeating the Hon. I. N. Stevens, who opposed him. In 1890, Mr. Rhodes left Colorado and went to Salt Lake, Utah, where he practiced his profession for a period of twelve years, winning for himself a high rank at the bar of that city. In 1902 he returned to Fort Collins and again took up his practice in that city. He
then gave up the general practice and to the present time has given his attention almost exclusively to cases arising out of questions involving the law of irrigation. In the last named field of the law, Mr. Rhodes has won an enviable reputation, having
HON. LEDRU R. RHODES
handled successfully some of the most fiercely con- tested matters involving many abstruse and diffi- cult legal principles. The interests of Larimer county have never had a more ardent champion than they have found in Mr. Rhodes. The Agricultural college, the good-roads movement, the procuring of additional railroad service, the securing of pub- lic utilities, all have found in him a ready and effi- cient advocate. During his practice in Fort Col- lins, Mr. Rhodes has been associated in partner- ship with a number of the best lawyers who have ever practiced at the bar of Larimer county.
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WILLIAM H. TRIMBLE was born February 13th, 1824, in Logan county, Kentucky. At the age of 8 years he moved with his father's family to Cal- loway county, Missouri, where he received a public school education. He served as a private soldier all through the Mexican war in Doniphan's expe-
WILLIAM H. TRIMBLE
dition. After the war he returned to his home in Missouri. In 1850 he journeyed across the Plains to California where he engaged in mining until 1855, returning then by way of the Isthmus of Panama and settling in Gentryville, Gentry county, Missouri, and engaging in the mercantile business. That year he married Sarah Catherine Allen and remained in business until 1863. On the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Trimble, though a slave owner, raised a company of Union volunteers of which he was commissioned captain. In 1863, he bought a drove of cattle and trailed them across the Plains to the Boxelder creek, north of Fort Collins, and sold them to E. W. Whitcomb. Returning to Missouri in the fall of 1863, he bought a freighting outfit and followed freighting from St. Joseph, Mo., to Denver, Colo. He also brought his family to Denver and remained through the winter freight- ing from Denver to Black Hawk. In the spring of
1865 he returned East, sold out his freighting train and settled in Paradise, Clay county, Mo., where he reengaged in the mercantile business until 1872. In 1873 he made a visit with his family to Fort Collins and bought a half interest in the cattle busi- ness with Abner Loomis. He returned to Missouri in the fall and in the spring of 1874 he brought his family to Fort Collins and engaged in the mer- cantile business in a building which stood where now stands the Antlers hotel. In the fall of 1874, himself, A. C. Craig and James Todd of St. Joseph, Mo., engaged in the sheep business north of La- porte. In the fall of 1876 he and Mr. Loomis disposed of their cattle on the Sybille river in Wyoming to Swan Brothers; and later he and A. C. Craig engaged in the cattle business at Bates' Hole, Wyo., on the Platte above old Fort Casper. At the time of his death in July, 1878, they were running about 3,000 head of cattle. The five chil- dren, James H., Charles W., Mrs. Charles H. Sheldon, Robert E., and Edgar H., with the excep-
MRS. WILLIAM H. TRIMBLE
tion of James H., who died in 1892, are all resi- dents and highly esteemed citizens of Fort Collins. The subject of this sketch had been a Master Mason many years before his death and was buried with
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AUGUSTINE MASON
MRS. AUGUSTINE MASON
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
Masonic honors. Mrs. Trimble was born in 1839, in Missouri. She was a devoted wife and a tender, loving mother who trained her children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. She was a zealous member of the Christian church and contributed largely of her means, her influence, and strength to the building of a church edifice and to the growth of the congregation. Mrs. Trimble died on June 30th, 1911, at her home in Fort Collins.
ELZA SILCOTT .- Died in Fort Collins, June 20th, 1897 from apoplexy. He was a native of Park county, Indiana, born in 1851. He came with his family to Fort Collins in 1883 and engaged in the furniture business in which he continued until a short time before his death. He left a widow and one daughter. Later, Mrs. Silcott married Alex- ander Nelson and the daughter is now the wife of Mathew Auld.
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