USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 80
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
a fine farm of several hundred acres near Dixon canon, Mr. Miller owns a good deal of city prop- erty from which he derives a snug income.
GEORGE STEARLY, one of the best known citizens of the county of German origin, has been a resident of Laporte since 1873. George Stearly was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, near Stuttgard, April
GEORGE STEARLY
19, 1851 and was but 22 years of age when he first trod the fruitful soil of his adopted state. He was married at Denver to Mrs. Sarah E. Stearly. They have one son, Byron. Mrs. Stearly's son Fred, makes his home with them, also a nephew Harry I. Nettleton. Mr. Stearly is still a resi- dent of Laporte where for nearly forty years his hearty greeting has welcomed visiting friends and transient travelers. He is now a solid farmer and stockman, being possessed of one of the largest ranch properties in the county. It consists of 1300 acres near Laporte devoted to alfalfa, grains and pasture. He also owns herds of cattle, horses, and mules. Mr. Stearly engaged largely in winter feeding of cattle for market for many years. After his arrival in Laporte, he conducted
the only blacksmith shop in the valley outside of Fort Collins, and the, product of his hands be- came so famous for durability and finish that his services were in constant demand. He has lived a life of usefulness, doing good and lending a help- ing hand. Mr. Stearly has served on the Laporte Board of Education for many years as a director.
MRS. JULIA A. HENDERSON .- Mrs. Henderson came to Colorado with her father, Harvey H. Samuels, her mother, three brothers and two sis- ters, settling down in the Big Thompson valley in 1863, where they have been in the ranch and cattle business ever since. Mrs. Henderson was born in Illinois, February 18th, 1839, and was married to Mr. Henderson in 1866. She has four sons, George E., James W., John H., and Thomas M. Henderson. Her maiden name was Julia A. Samuels. The family came here from Iowa, and has engaged extensively in raising fine stock and ranching.
GRATTAN LAWDER was born on an English ship on the border of France, May 17th, 1865. When about 12 years of age she came from Ireland to Clinton, Iowa, where she received her education. She came to Colorado in May, 1883, and located on the Elkhorn in Larimer county. On July 19th, 1888, she was united in marriage with Sir Cecil Moon, a British Baronet, and became Lady Cather- ine Moon. In 1899 she accompanied her husband to England where she remained until 1902, when she returned to her home on the Elkhorn where she has since lived. She is the owner of a fine 2100- acre stock ranch and is engaged in the cattle busi- ness and general ranching. Lady Moon is a good business woman and a lover of good horses.
OSCAR J. SMITH, one of the progressive and sub- stantial farmers and stock feeders of the Little Thompson valley, was born December 22nd, 1855, in Livingston county, Missouri, where he received his education. His wife, Margaret J. Smith, was born April 18th, 1861, at Jacksonville, Illinois, and was married to Oscar J. Smith in 1885 at Chili- cothe, Mo. They have four children, all natives of Colorado. Mr. Smith came to Colorado July 28th, 1878, and settled first at Longmont, where he lived until 1889, moving then to a farm in the vicinity of Berthoud. Since coming west, Mr. Smith's business has been farming and sheep feed- ing, chiefly, in which he has had good success. The names of the children are Virginia M. Smith and
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CNC.B- HENRY TAYLOR JR CHICAGO
Fred Gross
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
Orville E. Smith, of Berkeley, California; Mrs. Myrtle M. Allen of Kansas City, Missouri, and Theodore Neil Smith, at home.
FREDERICK GROSS .- Beginning with little and ending with much is the record that, so far as material things are concerned, stands to the credit of the subject of this sketch. But this result was not attained without a struggle. He battled man- fully in his younger days against adverse cir- cumstances and at last came off victor. What though the brown locks of youth are silvered o'er with gray; what though his step is not as lithe, his form as erect and his sight as keen as when, stimu- lated by ambition, he arrived in Fort Collins more than a third of a century ago to carve out a home and a competence for himself and family among strangers in a new and undeveloped region. He ac- complished his purpose and now rejoices in the real- ization of his fondest hopes. Frederick Gross was born August 28th, 1840, in Hargeshiem, Prussia, and received his education in his native town. He was born and reared on a farm in a country where small land holdings and the thorough cultivation of every foot of the soil, and intense farming was al- most the universal rule. But the lessons he learned in his youth on his father's farm, stood him well in hand when he settled down to the life of a Colorado farmer. Mr. Gross emigrated to the United States in 1862. For the first five months he was em- ployed in a bakery in New York City and then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here he worked at blacksmithing for twelve years. He came to Colorado in 1875 and for three years worked as a farm hand, a part of the time for his brother-in- law, Lewis Kern, of Windsor, who had come west a few years before. In the spring of 1878, Mr. Gross bought 80 acres of land situated in the Harmony District of Fred Hoyt, and another con- tiguous 80-acre tract of F. C. Avery. He built a small house, dug a well and fenced his land and raised a small crop that year. The succeeding year he harvested a larger and better crop and the be- ginning of the smiles of fortune dates from that period. He had mastered the science of intense farming on his father's limited acres in Germany and the knowledge thus gained, coupled with energy and industry enabled him to outstrip many of his neighbors in the annual yields of his broad and well tilled acres. He soon became known as the farmer who never failed to raise a good crop. Year by year he added to the value of his farm by good and substantial improvements, including a large
and handsome brick house, barns, sheds and corrals, and when he retired two years ago and left the care of the farm to his son, George, he was counted one of the foremost men of means in the district. In 1869, he married Anna K. Brost in Milwaukee who bore him three sons, Fred W., of Scottsbluff, Nebraska; Charles of Kimball, Nebraska and George on the home farm. Mrs. Gross died in April, 1908 and in April, 1910 our subject married Martha Manson, for his second wife, and they re- side at 335 East Magnolia street, Fort Collins.
JOHN DEAVER came from Iowa to Colorado in 1860, arriving in Denver in May of that year. He went immediately to the Gregory Gulch gold dig- ging and spent several years at mining and running a saw mill at Black Hawk and Central City. He came to Larimer county in 1870 and located on a stock ranch on Redstone creek, where he lived until 1880, when he moved to Fort Collins, which has since been the family home. He was engaged in the flour and feed business and in conducting a livery stable for several years. For the past ten years he has been looking after a herd of cattle ranging in the Upper Poudre country between Home and Chambers lake, making his headquarters during the summer months at the Thayer ranch, near Zimmerman's. He is married and has an adopted daughter, Mrs. Harry Schreck, with whom Mrs. Deaver makes her home during his absence in the mountains.
FRANK T. WOODS was born September 13th, 1872, at Greeley, and educated at Fort Collins, Colorado; married Rose Gilkison, June 6th, 1898, and they have two daughters, Loma Z. and Myrna R. Woods. Follows ranching and dairying near Walden, in Jackson county. Our subject was a son of the late C. I. Woods and spent his early boyhood on his father's stock ranch at St. Cloud, Colorado, moving thence with his father's family to Fort Col- lins in 1880.
GEORGE GIDDINGS, born March 25th, 1874, at Cameron, Warren county, Illinois; died Decem- ber 3rd, 1909, in Fort Collins, Colorado; lived on his father's farm for more than 21 years; married Delia Smith of New York, August 6th, 1874. Two sons were their only children, Edwin F. and Minot J. The family came from Illinois to Fort Collins on December 24th, 1883. Our subject followed various occupations and was engineer at the City Water Works for several years. His last years were spent on a small farm north of Fort Collins.
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
P. J. McHUGH, M. D .- Since February, 1890, Dr. McHugh has been identified with the profes- sional and also with the business interests of Fort Collins and has contributed to its advancement by his connection with progressive enterprises and pub- lic spirited movements. He was born near Essex, Essex county, Ontario, Canada, on September 17th, 1863. His parents were born in County Cavan,
DR. P. J. McHUGH
Ireland. They migrated to Canada in 1846, and his father was sheriff of Essex county for nineteen years. There were ten children in his family, five boys and five girls and our subject was the youngest of the five boys. He received his education in the public schools of Essex; taught school in Essex two years, was clerk in the postoffice at Windsor six years being in the money order and savings de- partment three years of the time; graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine in 1888; served as hospital interne in Harper hospital for a year and a half; came to Fort Collins in 1890, which place is still his home. He took post graduate work at New York during the season of 1897-98, and at Vienna, Austria, in 1904; married Lerah G. Strat- ton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Stratton who
were Fort Collins pioneers, on January 21, 1892. Three sons, Keith P., Jerome A., and Wier J. Mc- Hugh are the fruits of the union. Dr. McHugh has been a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners for six years; President of the Colo- rado State Medical Society in 1907-8; President of the Larimer county Medical Society; Mayor of Fort Collins from 1903 to 1905, and is a director and secretary of the Fort Collins Hospital associa- tion and a stockholder in the Northern Hotel com- pany.
JOHN C. SHULL, a veteran of the Civil war who came west in the seventies, located in Larimer county in 1880. He enlisted in the 34th Ohio In- fantry, September 3rd, 1861, re-enlisting in the field January 1864, serving through the war and was honorably discharged March 11th, 1865. Mr. Shull, who is now and has been postmaster at Berthoud for many years, is exceedingly modest about his part in many of the engagements of the great Civil strife, but it is well known that he was
IM
MRS. P. J. McHUGH
a participant in many of the bloody battles of the war, always in line with the other brave boys in blue defending their country's honor. He was born
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
in Stark county, Ohio, August 2nd, 1841. July 3rd, 1867, he was married to Nancy Jane Hilliard. They have three daughters, Mrs. Jessie Brinkley, Mrs. Gertrude Mahan and Mrs. Raymond Fenton ; also two sons, Walter and Charles.
JOSEPH E. SHIPLER, the first clerk of the town of Fort Collins, was born September 6th, 1843, in Mercer, Pennsylvania, where he was educated; enlisted in the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteer In- fantry April 19th, 1861; served three years in the army of the Potomac and was mustered out at the expiration of his term of enlistment, June 17th, 1864, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; married Alice Vescelius, June 30th, 1864, at Gregg, New York, and their surviving children are, William P. Ship- ler, of Montana; Fred E. Shipler, of Denver ; Mrs. Alice E. Johns, of Denver, and Mrs. Lulu C. Bryant, of Pueblo. Mr. Shipler and family arrived in Fort Collins on February 8th, 1869, and he en- gaged in contracting and building. He was ap- pointed the first town clerk of Fort Collins in 1873 and held the office several years. For the past 25 years, he has been engaged in prospecting and mining in Colorado and Nevada. His wife died in 1883, in Fort Collins.
SAMUEL O. K. REED .- Many of the sons of the Empire state are scattered throughout Colorado, and Larimer county is proud of the fact that it contains its share of them. Mr. Reed was born August 5th, 1844, at Franklindale, New York, son of Rev. N. A. Reed; educated at Middletown, New York, and at Zanesville, Ohio; enlisted Aug- ust 15th, 1862, in company E 3rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was honorably discharged June 15th, 1865, at Columbus, Ohio; married Jennie Cameron August 1st, 1872, at Brooklyn, New York, and she died in 1910, in Fort Collins, leaving two child- ren, Olin G. Reed of Fort Collins, and Joseph F. Reed in government employ at Fairfield, Wash- ington. Our subject came to Fort Collins in Oct- ober, 1880, and followed farming until 1906 when he retired and moved to Fort Collins. Since then he has been constable and district court bailiff. He is a genial gentleman, and can give and take a joke with the best of them.
GEORGE W. FOOTE .- Many an old timer could have been well spared in Colorado, but the man who does things is always welcome-whether he comes first or last. In this class stands a man who came to Colorado in 1874 in search of health, and
if found, he determined to remain and do his share in its upbuilding. George W. Foote was a great sufferer from asthma and weighed but 117 pounds when he arrived in Greeley; and in this connection John Stover of Platteville tells the following: 'When I first saw Foote I pitied him, he looked so weak and frail. I sold him the first team of horses
GEORGE W. FOOTE
that he owned in the then territory. They were a spirited pair and full of life and after he purchased I told him that I would take them to the barn, as he didn't look strong enough to handle 'em, even to carry the halters. Yet the cuss knew horses to an iota, knew how to break 'em, and had the nerve to handle any horse no matter how vicious, and for years after he was the best judge and handler of horses in northern Colorado."
George W. Foote was born in Mill Creek Hun- dred, Delaware, on November 23, 1842, in the old homestead that had cradled his father and grand- father. His grandsire had heard of Bunker Hill, and though but a boy, he was of the stuff from which heroes are made. He was a drummer boy in the Continental army and aided in the colonies gain- ing their independence from England. George
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
attended school at Wilmington and in Philadelphia and in the interim he worked on the home farm. He was married to Sarah A. Woodward, and two children were born to them. George and family came west in 1874 and on June 5, arrived in Greeley, Colorado. They resided there until 1881, then moved to Loveland where he engaged at farm- ing and in the livery and stage line business. He
GENERAL WILLIAM LARIMER
operated the stage between the two towns, the stage between Loveland and Estes Park and he was also connected with other stage lines. Mrs. Foote died in 1892 and two years later Mr. Foote married Della E. Weaver, a Kansas girl. Two children are by that issue, Lester G. and Edna D., and the family occupy a comfortable home on the corner of 5th street and Jefferson avenue. In 1899 Mr. Foote sold his farm to the recently organized Love- land Sugar Company for a site for its plant, since which time he has devoted his time to his other lands -one half section located in Weld county in the Little Thompson valley. The Foote family is numer- ically strong in the east and middle west and were blood kin to some of the most famous men and women of the past century-among them being
Harriet Beecher-Stowe of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" fame, and the famous Brooklyn preacher, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Mr. Foote has prospered in this world's goods and is now the owner of several farms, lives in one of the finest homes in Loveland and is President of the Larimer County Bank and Trust Company. He is rated as one of the wealthiest men in the county.
DR. ROY WIEST was born May 9th, 1877, at Pontiac, Michigan; attended the Pontiac public schools, the Detroit High school and the University of Michigan Medical school, graduating therefrom in 1901. He came to Colorado in 1902 and located at Loveland ; married Sara Armstrong on Sept. 6th, 1905, and they have one child, Donald K. Wiest. Our subject moved to Estes Park in 1906 where he is engaged in practicing his profession. He is a member of the Larimer County Medical society and of the American Medical society; also a mem- ber of the Colorado Pharmacal association.
SAMUEL SERVICE, one of the prosperous dealers in general merchandise in Estes Park, was born July 3rd, 1860, at Bally Easton, Ireland, and re- ceived his education in his native country. He came to Colorado in 1884, locating first at Sterling, moving thence, in 1902, to Estes Park where he has since resided. Mr. Service is an excellent business man and citizen. On March 23rd, 1890, he mar- ried Sadie Boyd at Iliff, Colo., and they have eight children: Mary, Susan, Rhoda, Frank, Bryan, Estes, Helen and Wilma.
J. W. KENDALL was born in Wapelo county, Iowa; came to Colorado in 1873, settling in Den- ver; moved to Larimer county in 1879 and fol- lowed farming and stock raising; married M. J. Hembree in 1900, and they have one child, Lola Kendall. Mr. Kendall is a veteran of the Civil war, serving first in the 24th, Missouri Infantry and later in the 148th, Illinois Infantry. He was employed in the construction of the Larimer and Weld county canal and has helped to build several other ditches in Larimer county.
E. M. McGIBBON .- Wyoming lost a good citizen to Colorado when Mr. McGibbon settled here. He was born in Wyoming at Laramie city, September 3rd, 1872, and came to this state April 26th, 1902. He was educated in the public schools in Laramie and at the Wyoming State university. He was married to Miss Nettie Gertrude Glynn, March 26th, 1901. He is a farmer and stock
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
grower and owns a fine farm four miles north-east of this city.
VICTOR AKIN .- Mr. Akin is another product of the Centennial state and a native of this county. He was born three miles south-east of Fort Col- lins in 1886 and was married to Miss Elsie Gladys Haven in 1909. They have one daughter Helen Louise. He was educated in the public schools of the county. Mr. Akin has been actively en- gaged in the farming industry for several years on a large scale. In 1910 he had nearly one thou- sand acres of wheat under cultivation north-east of this city. His crop this year, while not as ex- tensive, covers over seven hundred acres. He has the push and energy to make a record among the best of Larimer county's agriculturalists.
WILLIAM H. LAWS was born in 1840, in Law- rence county, Indiana; educated at Eureka college, Eureka, Illinois; came to Colorado in May, 1868, and in 1872 married Ida Dow; six children, Mrs. Mabel Johnson, W. G., Claude, Earl G., Mrs. Nora L. Wallace and Hazel D. Laws; lived in Boulder county thirteen years and was Assessor four years and County Clerk of that county four years; came to Larimer county in 1882 and set- tled in the Big Thompson valley. Is a retired farmer and a resident of Loveland.
LOREN GIDDINGS .- The subject of this sketch is the sole survivor of three brothers-Leander, George and Loren Giddings-who came from Illi- nois to the Cache la Poudre valley thirty years ago for the same reason that actuated hundreds of others to move westward, and that was to better their financial condition and to establish homes in a more equable climate. That the change resulted beneficially to these three brothers is evidenced by the fact that all of them remained and have done their part in developing the industries of the coun- ty, making it what it is today, one of the richest and most prosperous sections in the United States. Two of the brothers, Leander and George, have closed their earthly careers and passed on to join the unnumbered throng beyond the grave, but not until after both had met with a fair measure of success in their various undertakings. Our subject was born October 11th, 1841, on a farm in Warren county, Illinois. He received his education in the public schools of the period and on January 12th, 1865, he married Elizabeth Stafford at Berwick, in his native state. Eight living children, all well established in life, were born to them, and their
names are: Ettie M. (now Mrs. Victor E. Stephens of Fort Collins) ; E. Chester, Claude C., Frank D., also of Fort Collins; S. Ralph of Tim- nath, Mary A., Phebe L. (now Mrs. Orville Young of Scottsbluff, Neb.), and Ina J. (now Mrs. L. F. Fetters of Scottsbluff, Neb.). In 1881, Mr. Giddings moved to Taylor county, Iowa, and two years later came to Fort Collins, near which place
LOREN GIDDINGS
he has since resided, engaged in farming, stock raising and stock feeding. The first seventeen years of his life in Colorado were spent on N. C. Alford's farm in the Boxelder valley. Since then, for a greater part of the time, he has lived near Timnath where he has followed farming and gardening with excellent success. Mr. Giddings is one of the sturdy, substantial citizens of the county, a man who has always lived at peace with his neighbors and has always rendered unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.
HIRAM R. SMITH, one of the best and most favorably known citizens of Loveland is a native of Pennsylvania; educated at Westminister college; married Louisa M. Shields, October 1st, 1878; came to Loveland in June, 1879; has faithfully
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HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
served in positions of trust including justice of the peace, an office he still holds. Mr. Smith fought three years for the Union during the Civil war; is a valued newspaper correspondent.
AARON V. BENSON was born December 25th, 1878, near Loveland, Colorado. He received his education in the graded schools of Larimer county
AARON V. BENSON
and at the State Agricultural College at Fort Collins, Colorado. In 1900 he accepted the posi- tion of bookkeeper in the Bank of Loveland, of Loveland, Colorado, serving with that institution successively as bookkeeper, assistant cashier and cashier, having held the position of cashier with the Bank of Loveland and with its successor, The Love- land National Bank, since 1904.
DANIEL M. HALLIGAN was born in May, 1830, in Dublin, Ireland. He came to the United States in 1847 and spent two years in Illinois. In 1849 he crossed the Plains to California and engaged in mining. He went to Australia in 1850, but re- turned to California in a few months, locating at Michigan Bluff. In 1860 he was married to Mary
Roberts and in 1882 he came with his family to Larimer county and took up a stock ranch on the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre, where he lived until December 8th, 1899, when he died. He left a wife and three children; Walton M. of Den- ver ; W. B. of Fort Collins and Mrs. Bessie Heath, of Colorado Springs.
JAMES BRUNTON .- A miller, machinist and ac- countant by occupation, our subject was born Aug- ust 4th, 1862 in Pleeblesshire, Scotland, where he was educated. Married Laura B. Livingston, March 13th, 1890. His children are named Leva S., Jessie L., James F. and George W. Came to Fort Collins July 19th, 1887, and assisted in the construction of the Farmers' Mill. Has been em- ployed by B. F. Hottel in the Lindell Mills since 1891. Mr. Brunton was elected alderman from the second ward, April 4th, 1911.
JOHN VAUGHN BARKER .- Until recently, Mr. Barker has been actively engaged in the furniture business in Fort Collins. He came to the state in 1900, and located in this city, a year later. He was born in Chicago, January 31st, 1872, and was educated there. He was married August 21st, 1895 to Miss Carrie L. Weinstein. They have one child, Leo. V. Prior to coming to Colorado, Mr. Barker was connected for a number of years with the Parry Mfg. Co., of Indianapolis, Indiana, the largest buggy concern in the world. Before that he was cashier and auditor for the carriage wheel trust, known as the Commercial Wheel Company.
JOHN BUNYAN BAY .- Mr. Bay is one of the successful and prosperous farmers and gardeners of the Cache la Poudre valley, and was born in 1862, near Vincennes, Indiana; educated in the pub- lic schools of Illinois, and on September 7th, 1887, married Sarah McGehee who has borne him four children, Mabel, Carl, Roy and Raymond. He drove a team from Illinois to Fort Collins arriving in the fall of 1886; he followed market gardening for 18 years at which he was very successful and has since carried on general farming.
ELBERT D. PEARSON was born November 15th, 1859, in Oswego county, New York, where he re- ceived his education in the public schools; married Alice Dayhuff, December 14th, 1898; came to Greeley, November 10th, 1886, and followed farm- ing near that city for eight years; moved to Lari- mer county in 1895 and bought a farm five miles
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