USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 77
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ED. HARRIS was born January 30th, 1841, on a farm in Indiana and received his education in the public schools of his native state. On September 25th, 1867, he married Henrietta Honnold and the names of their children are Jesse, Frank, Bert, Ed, Chester and Myrtle. Our subject came with his family to Fort Collins in 1879, arriving May 29th. He is a farmer by occupation and, with the exception of one year that he lived in Boulder, has spent thirty-two years in Fort Collins and vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have spent three winters in
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HISTORY OF
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California, but their home has been in Colorado ever since, they came west in 1879. Mr. Harris has met with a fair measure of success in his under- takings and is passing his declining years amid peace and plenty.
KINTZING P. PEW was born September 5th, 1847, in Mercer, Pennsylvania, where he received his education in the public schools. A few months
KINTZING P. PEW
before he attained his majority, Mr. Pew started westward, arriving in Fort Collins, April 1st, 1868, having come from Cheyenne to Laporte on the stage in company with Thos. L. Moore. He after- wards engaged in farming, raised stock, and ran a threshing machine for a good many years. He married Mrs. Anna Bailey, June 29th, 1874, and three children were born to them, Mrs W. M. Wilson of Long Beach, California; Roy Pew of Saratoga, Wyoming, and Mrs. Edna Gregory of Denver. Mr. Pew sold his farm a few years ago, and for much of the time since has been deputy post- master at Laporte and salesman in the store. There are few men that can count up more friends, wher- ever he is known, than genial, big-hearted "Kintz"
Pew. In the early days, Mr. Pew did his part bravely in the work of developing and convert- ing a new country into a habitable and prosperous region, where the banner of civilization could be kept waving all down through the ages as evidence of the redemption of a wilderness from savagery and barbarism. He was ever ready to do a friend a favor, if within his power, and never turned a pleading mendicant from his door empty handed. His children are all well to do.
BENJAMIN F. HOTTEL .- Elsewhere in this book it is written that five classes of pioneers aided in the opening up of this great Rocky Mountain region to settlers. They were explorers, trappers, gold hunters, soldiers and those in search of homes. There is yet another-the industrial pioneer-and he is not the least in merit to his predecessors. It is true that he did not encounter the hardships, deprivations and dangers of the first comers, but he had many chances in business lines. He was not afraid to invest his money in undertakings that ultimately helped to make Larimer county, its towns and cities what they are today. By his fore- sight, energy and courage he did as much towards developing and building up the country as those who followed trails, freighted food stuffs and mer- chandise from point to point; as the man who built the first house deserving the name, plowed the first furrow, dug the first irrigating ditch or spread out his herds of cattle over the plains. Among the latter, Benjamin F. Hottel stands well towards the head of the list. Mr. Hottel is a native of Vir- ginia, born, reared and educated in the famous Shenandoah valley. He came west in 1875, stop- ping first at Omaha where he engaged in the whole- sale grocery business. Later he put a herd of cattle on the rich pasture lands of Wyoming, casting his lot with Fort Collins in October, 1877. At this time he was less than thirty years of age but he had foresight, courage, energy and ability and see- ing in the Caché la Poudre valley a future of great industrial promise, he determined to aid in its development. He had learned the miller's trade in his father's mill in the Old Dominion and did not hesitate to associate himself with Joseph Mason in operating the Lindell mills, then owned by Mr. Mason, and since then Fort Collins has been the home of himself and family. In February, 1880, he bought a half interest in the mill, purchasing the other half of the Mason estate after Mr. Mason's death in 1881, becoming sole owner. In 1885 he sold the property to the Colorado Milling & Ele-
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
vator company, but has since remained as manager of the mills for the company. Since becoming identified with the Lindell Mills, Mr. Hottel has paid to the farmers of the Cache la Poudre valley millions of dollars for wheat and other grains and is looked upon and recognized as one of the fore- most men of Fort Collins. He is possessed of great strength of character, marked breadth of vision and is enterprising and public spirited. He was one of the leaders in the movement which resulted in getting one of the largest sugar factories in the state built in Fort Collins, himself subscribing for $25,000 worth of stock in the enterprise and was made first President of the company. He is always ready with voice and purse to help along and pro- mote any enterprise or undertaking that promises to advance the material, social and moral welfare of the community. Although he has never been an officer-seeker and has always been averse to ac- cepting public office, he did consent to serve the city twice as an alderman from his ward, rendering splendid service each time. He is a large hearted, broad-minded man and one of the main stays of the business interests of Fort Collins. His be- nevolences amount to a large sum each year, yet he bestows them in a quiet, modest way, not "let- ting his left hand know what his right hand doeth" in such matters. In January, 1910, Mr. Hottel was elected President of the Poudre Valley Nation- al bank with which institution he had long been connected as a stockholder and director. In 1875 he was married to Emma Mantz and three children, Charles M., Anna Josephine (now deceased ), and Mary E. are the fruits of the union. In religion, Mr. Hottel is an Episcopalian and in politics, a democrat.
L. D. CRAIN .- To rise from the station of an humble farmer boy through all the grades of the public schools of Indiana, including the High school, then entering Purdue University, graduat- ing therefrom in June, 1892 with the degree of B. M. E., and coming direct to Fort Collins to ac- cept the position of assistant to Professor J. W. Lawrence of the Mechanical Engineering depart- ment of the Colorado Agricultural college, and being promoted to a professorship in that institu- tion, is an experience that Mr. Crain can look back upon with infinite pleasure, and is a record that challenges the admiration of all right think- ing people. Mr. Crain was born February 3rd, 1868, near Angola, Steuben county, Indiana. He worked on his father's farm until he entered the
Angola High school, from which he was graduated in 1887. He matriculated in Purdue University, September 18th, 1888, graduating therefrom in June, 1892, with the degree of B. M. E. He came direct from Purdue to Fort Collins in August of that year and became assistant to Prof. J. W. Law- rence in the department of Mechanical Engineer- ing at the Colorado Agricultural college. He re-
L. D. CRAIN
mained in this department until 1903, when he was elected Professor of Electrical Engineering and started the course of electrical engineering at that institution. This he conducted two years and then resigned to go into business. He was connected with the college for a period of thirteen years, less one year spent in Cornell University taking post graduate work, receiving there the M. M. E. de- gree in June, 1902. He was married in the sum- mer of 1894 to Laura Willson, daughter of Rev. S. R. Willson, and a college classmate. She died in 1895. He married September 16th, 1901, Miss Aureli Bouton, daughter of Judge and Mrs. J. H. Bouton. The names of his three children are L. D. Jr., Jay B. and Richard W. On retiring from the college faculty, Mr. Crain engaged in the hardware
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HISTORY OF £ LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
business as a member of the firm of The Bouton & Crain Hardware company in which he has con- tinued. He was made a Master Mason in Angola Lodge No. 236, Angola, Indiana; a Royal Arch Mason in Caché la Poudre Chapter No. 11, R. A. M., and Knight Templer in DeMolay Com- mandry No. 13 K. T., Fort Collins. He affiliated with Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. soon after coming to Fort Collins, and served it as Wor- shipful Master in 1900. He has also been High Priest of Caché la Poudre chapter, and Eminent Commander of DeMolay commandery, Worthy Pa- tron of Collins chapter No. 26 O. E. S., and Grand Patron of the Grand Chapter of Colorado. He is a member of Denver council of Royal and Select Masters, and is a 32nd degree Mason, being a member of Denver Consistory A. A. S. R. of Colo- rado. He joined the O. E. S. in Indiana in 1889. Mr. Crain is also a Knight of Pythias and has served two terms as Chancellor Commander of Larimer Lodge No. 101, K. of P., and one term as Grand Chancellor of Colorado.
R. Q. TENNEY was born March 14th, 1838, in Lebanon, New Hampshire; spent boyhood on a farm; enlisted in company C 15th Vermont In- fantry in August, 1862; mustered in as commissary sergeant; came to Fort Collins in June, 1871, and followed farming and dairying; was first Master of Grange No. 7, organized in 1874; engaged in stock business in 1883 with brother, Melvin A. Tenney; was Water Commissioner for District No. 3, in 1893-4; follows irrigation engineering and was one of the originators of the Park Creek Irrigation district.
JOHN ZIMMERMAN .- This noted frontiersman, traveler, hunter, guide, miner and Larimer county pioneer was born in 1840 mid the towering peaks of the Alps of Switzerland. He emigrated with his family to the United States when a small boy, the family locating near La Crosse, Wisconsin. Here he grew to manhood and received his education. He came with his family from Minnesota to Larimer county in 1880 and located at Cameron pass where he spent four years hunting, prospecting and serving as guide to tourists. In 1884 he moved his family to his present location which has been his home for 27 years. With a rude saw mill he cut the lumber with which to build a few cottages, doing the work himself mainly, and began to entertain mountain visitors, and tourists. His resort became so widely noted for its hospitality and good cheer that he decided to build a large and commodious hotel in
which to accommodate and entertain his guests, and the "Keystone" at Home postoffice, a three story and basement brick structure containing about 40 rooms and equipped with hot and cold water and other modern conveniences was the result. Mr. Zimmerman made the brick for the building and did much of the construction work himself. His wife died in 1903 leaving husband and four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters, Ed and Casper and the Misses Eda and Agnes Zimmerman.
JUDGE WILLIAM B. OSBORN .- Judge Osborn is a pioneer of Larimer county in the fullest meaning of the term. His was the first family in the Big Thompson valley. He built the first house with a shingled roof in the valley, and Mrs. Osborn was the first woman settler. The judge also was the first man to bring cereal seed into that section. In 1862 he purchased half a bushel of oats, half a bushel of wheat and half a bushel of rye, but his faithful wife is entitled to equal credit, for part of her money-made by the work of her own hands- went toward the payment. Mr. Osborn was the first judge of the Larimer county court; performed the first marriage ceremony in Larimer county, at his home, Andrew Ames and Miss Cooper being the contracting parties, and presided at the first funeral of a white person in the county, reading the Episcopal burial service from the book of prayer, at the burial of Mrs. Joseph Markley in 1862. William B. Osborn was born on his father's farm, in Milo township, Yates county, New York, on July 17, 1824. While still a boy his family moved on to a farm in Perry, Wyoming county, New York, and William grew up like every other farm lad, doing the chores and attending the district school. When a young man he went to a High school at Perry till he was 21, then his father gave him the means to go to Scipio, Ohio, to see an aunt. Young Osborn applied for and obtained a school where he taught for nearly three years. He had formed the acquaintance of a young medical man, but recently graduated, and William thought that he would like to master the mysteries of the medical profession. The money he earned as a pedagog he laid out on a medical education, devot- ing all his vacation periods to gaining a knowledge of medicine and surgery. After a three years' residence in Scipio, his medical friend moved to East Liberty, Ohio, and William went with him as a friend and assistant. There he met his fate and through that medium he forsook powders and pills, lancet and ligatures. At East Liberty he
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MRS. WILLIAM B. OSBORN
JUDGE WILLIAM B. OSBORN
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
met Margaret C. Castetter, and the young people were married. They lived on a farm near South Bend, Indiana, without any disposition to change their lot in life till 1860. In the spring of 1860 he, and twenty-one others, left South Bend for Colo- rado, and on May 15, they pitched their tents at Gold Dirt, a camp six miles from Central City. There was every evidence of gold in abundance- both placer and quartz-and the need of a legal camp organization was quite apparent. A meeting was called and attended by every man in the camp and this resulted in the election of Mr. Osborn as secretary of that district. His duties were to issue certificates of discovery and preemption and every night his little office was crowded by prospectors to have their discoveries placed on record and get their certificates showing ownership of claims. Then the gold seekers needed a miner's court and one was organized with Clerk Osborn as judge. That fall a Boulder merchant, Harris Tarbox, with whom Judge Osborn was quite friendly, in- duced him to visit the Big Thompson valley. He sang its praises as an ideal place to farm and raise live stock and the judge rode over with him. A man named Samuel Heffner had squatted on a fine piece of bottom land a little east of where Love- land was afterward located, and the judge bought his relinquishment. This farm is still in the family, and on it resides Milo Y. Osborn, only son of the judge. Returning to Gold Dirt, the judge re- sumed his clerical and judicial duties, but he was determined at some future day to return to the soil-he loving a farmer's life. The next spring Mrs. Osborn and children came to Gold Dirt and after a stay of a few months all moved on to the acres Mr. Osborn had purchased. There was noth- ing on it to speak of, as a habitation, but its new owner had a log house built in which they resided. Judge Osborn has occupied many positions of honor and trust since his residence in Colorado. Aside from his services at the gold camp, he was the first county judge of Larimer county, appointed to that office by the commissioners. At the expiration of his term he was appointed county treasurer to fill a defaulter's unexpired term, and on its completion he was elected for another term. He also was ap- pointed assessor of the county; appointed member of the State Reform School board, and while hold- ing that office he was appointed a member of the State Board of Horticulture, but declined, owing to too many business cares. Next he was appointed clerk of the horticultural board and resided in Den- ver for a year, but not caring to be away from
the farm, he resigned. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Loveland Cemetery association and that is enough duty for a man of his years to perform. Five children were born to Judge and Mrs. Osborn, three of whom are living and enjoy the comfort of having loving families; Mrs. Ella C. Scott, of Fort Collins; Milo Y. Osborn, re- siding on the old home farm, and Mrs. Cora B. Timpke, of Loveland. On July 17, 1910, our subject was 86 years of age. He is in full posses- sion of all his faculties and his fund of stories of events of the early days in Colorado and Larimer county would more than fill a book the size of this history, and during all his days he has lived a re- markably clean life. The noble woman who has been his companion for over 62 years, is entitled to a full measure of praise. Always hopeful and cheerful, she has been helpmeet and counselor to the man of her choice; making him feel year after year, that God has been very good to him.
ABNER E. SPRAGUE, locating engineer for the Missouri Pacific railroad in Nebraska for five years, assistant engineer for the Union Pacific rail- road in Colorado for several years and County Surveyor of Larimer county for three terms, was born March 28th, 1850, in Dundee, Illinois. He came to the Big Thompson valley in July, 1864, where he received the rudiments of an education. His father, Thos. Sprague, came to Colorado in 1860. Our subject married M. Alberta Morrison in December, 1888. They have no children. Mr. Sprague settled in Estes Park in 1875, and has been a resident of Larimer county since 1864. His pres- ent home is in Loveland, where he is engaged in civil engineering, surveying and ranching. In 1864, the Sprague family settled in the Big Thompson valley near the county line between Larimer and Weld counties.
DR. MARY D. RECKLY is entitled to the distinc- tion of being the first woman physician to open an office in Fort Collins for the practice of her pro- fession. This she did in 1904, and is still engaged in healing the sick and soothing the afflicted. She was born at, and received her early education in Hillsboro, Ohio, the former home of Colonel W. O. Collins, the gallant soldier for whom Fort Col- lins is named. She has an A. B. degree from the University of Denver, and is a graduate both from a regular school of medicine and a school of osteo- pathy. She has spent three years pursuing medical studies in Europe and is a skilled and sympathetic
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physician as well as an educated, cultured lady of pleasing personality who wins friends in every walk of life.
SAMUEL F. WEBSTER .- To cause a nickel to multiply itself two million times, resulting in an increment of $100,000, within a period of twenty-
SAMUEL F. WEBSTER
three years, is one of the most notable achievements of a farmer's boy on record; but that is what the subject of this sketch has accomplished since he ar- rived at the age of sixteen years. How did he do it? Well, he didn't do it by loafing about town, play- ing pool for the drinks or cigars, bucking the tiger or betting on futures. No, he didn't get his start in that way. He got it by steady, hard work, long hours in the field plowing, sowing and harvesting crops, feeding stock, wise management and prudent husbanding of his resources. When Sam was six- teen years of age he began to shift for himself. He left home with one solitary nickel in his pocket and the clothes he had on his back. That was in 1887. After working a few months for farmers he bought 160 acres of land of F. C. Avery, agreeing to pay $6,000 for it with interest at 12
per cent. He also went into debt $600 for two spans of horses for use in working his land. Be- fore he was twenty-five years old he had paid for his farm and teams, had a good bunch of cattle and money in the bank. Since then his progress towards wealth and independence has been rapid. He has added 240 broad acres to his land holdings and has now a fully equipped farm of 400 acres of as productive land as there is in the county, well stocked with horses and cattle; owns considerable city property and is a stockholder in the First National bank of Fort Collins. Mr. Webster was born March 12th, 1871, in Cass coun- ty, Missouri, and received his education in the public schools. In 1875 he came from Missouri with his father's family to Larimer county. His father, Stewart Webster, followed freighting for two years and in 1877, he homesteaded a quarter of a section of land in the Harmony district on which he lived for more than twenty years. Our subject married Maggie Angell on January 25th, 1905, at
MRS. SAMUEL F. WEBSTER
Colorado Springs and she has been a real helpmeet, much of his success being due to her counsel and advice. She is a daughter of James Angell
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who came from Bedford, Iowa, where she was born in 1882, to Larimer county in 1885, and settled first in the Little Thompson valley, moving thence to the Buckhorn valley where he still resides. Mr. Webster moved his family from the farm to Fort Collins in 1905 and that city is still his home. He has five children, Isabel, Catherine, Elizabeth, Hazel, and Samuel J. Webster, all at home. Our subject resides with his family in a handsome and nicely furnished home at 300 Matthews street, where he is now enjoying life and the fruits of his well-earned fortune. He is an ardent lover of a good horse and has owned several speed ring win- ners. He is a public spirited citizen and is ever ready to help along a worthy public enterprise.
C. O. CULVER .- Our subject in this instance was not a pioneer, but he is one of the solid, substan- tial and most highly respected citizens of Larimer county. Mr. Culver was born September 26th, 1854, on a farm near Athens, Illinois. His educa- tion was obtained in the public schools and in a business college, and on February 19th, 1878, he married Mary J. Rice of Jacksonville, Illinois. Of this union five children were born, C. A., M. Alma, G. Warren, Howard B., and Edith H., all natives of Menard county, Illinois. He came with his family from Illinois to Fort Collins in 1903, and purchased what was then known as the Trim- ble farm, one mile south of the College, which is still the family home. Mr. Culver is a progressive and prosperous farmer and stock feeder, and he and his family stand high in business, social and church circles. He is a director of the Fort Collins Na- tional bank and his wise counsel is often sought in business matters.
GUSTAV E. LYCKMAN .- No better specimens of sturdy manhood have forsaken their homes beyond the Atlantic and forsworn their allegiance to foreign prince and potentate than those who have come from Sweden to be enrolled as citizens of the Amer- ican Republic. Almost invariably they possess the vigor, the industry, the prudence and the love of freedom which make them good citizens of our favored land. Obedience to the established laws of the country and recognition of the rights of others are, as a rule, marked characteristics of natives of Sweden. The principle "live and let live" seems to have been engrafted upon their souls in child- hood and to have grown with their growth into a living, sentient motive. Such a man at least, was Gustav E. Lyckman. He was born March 25th, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, where he received his
education. He emigrated to the United States in 1865, and after spending two years in Chicago, familiarizing himself with the ways, customs and habits of the American people and with their laws and institutions, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he engaged in the mercantile business which he followed for a few years, then selling his store and buying a farm which he conducted until he
GUSTAV E. LYCKMAN
came to Fort Collins in 1886, to join his son, Gus. A. Lyckman, who had preceded him several years. Here he lived until his death on July 11th, 1910. He is survived by one child (Mrs. Anna E. Stur- devant, late of Boulder, died Oct., 1904), G. A. Lyckman of the Cache la Poudre valley. The son has been a well-known and highly esteemed resident and successful farmer of that valley for nearly a third of a century and has done much to help develop its agricultural resources. He is a stock- holder in the Water Supply & Storage company and for several years a member of its board of directors.
HARRY B. BOYD, a native of Marion, Ohio, born in 1862, came to the Big Thompson valley on October 20th, 1873, four years before a railroad
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HISTORY OF LARIMER
COUNTY,
COLORADO
was built into Larimer county, and that valley is still his home. In 1893 he married Laura Richart, daughter of a Big Thompson pioneer. They have no children. Mr. Boyd is a butcher by occupation.
LOUIS PAPA, step-son of Mariana Modena, who settled in the Big Thompson valley in 1858, was born in Walla Walla, Washington, in the late for-
LOUIS PAPA
ties or early fifties of the Nineteenth century, the exact year of his birth being unknown to him. He is of French and Indian descent. He came to the Big Thompson valley with mother and step-father and that has been his home for more than fifty years. His ranch is in the Big Thompson canon, where . he carries on gardening and cattle raising.
JOHN S. OLIVER was born May 25th, 1846, in Adams county, Illinois ; moved to Missouri in 1859; enlisted in March, 1862, in Co. "H" of the 6th, Mo., Volunteer cavalry, and on expiration of two years' service, reenlisted in Co. "B" of 13th, Mo., cavalry. The regiment was retained in service after the war closed and in 1865 sent to Denver as escort to Gen. Upton; two companies were sent to Fort Collins and four to Fort Morgan to do guard
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