USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 81
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
east of Fort Collins which he sold in 1903, and has since lived in Timnath, taking charge, as man- ager, of the grain elevator at that place, a position he holds at the present time. Mr. and Mrs. Pear- son have no children. The fact that he has been retained in the important and responsible position of manager of an elevator through which tens of thousands of bushels of grain are passed every year, is proof of Mr. Pearson's integrity as a man, and ·of his faithfulness as an employe. It is therefore needless to say that he enjoys the confidence and respect of all who know him.
GEORGE W. RAIGLE .- Another of the sturdy sons of Ohio, who early responded to the bugle call "to arms," was George W. Raigle. A native of that state, born in Coshocton county, but edu- cated in Indiana, he enlisted from the latter state in 1862, in company I 97th Regiment Infantry Volunteers. Comrade Raigle served his country loyally and bravely for three years and was then honorably discharged. He was in the thickest of the fray at Vicksburg and Mission Ridge, both battles marked by fierce fighting and great loss in killed and wounded in both armies. He marched with Sherman's army to the sea and passed in re- view with the great army of veterans at Washing- ton, D. C., at the close of the memorable conflict. Mr. Raigle was married to Christina A. Howard, February 20th, 1866, in Indiana, coming to Colo- rado and settling in Larimer county, July 15th, 1879.
IRA O. KNAPP was born in Will County, Illi- nois, in 1859, and lived in that part of the state until he reached his twentieth year, when he heard the call of the west and went to Nebraska and later to western Kansas, where he learned some- thing of the printing business, which he followed for several years, his wanderings taking him back to Illinois where he worked in several places, Chi- cago among the rest. Bookkeeping was then taken up and for several years he was in the employ of a large general merchandising firm in Oregon, Illi- nois. In 1884 he married Miss Delia Dunkelberg of Rochelle, Illinois, and to them two sons, Herman J. and Jean V. were born, both of whom have re- ceived college education. Then farming claimed a few years time and in 1890 Mr. Knapp came to Colorado and has since that time made his home in Larimer county where he has followed several lines of work and done his part in the general develop- ment of this section of the state and Loveland in
particular, where he has made his home most of the time since coming to Colorado. Mr. Knapp has been a consistent republican since becoming a voter and has been a worker in the ranks rather than an office seeker, though he has held the office of alder- man in Loveland for a term of five consecutive years, being the longest ever given anyone by the citizens of that place. On February 1st, 1909, he
IRA O. KNAPP
became the editor and manager of the Loveland Reporter, the pioneer paper of Loveland. His varied experience has fitted him to deal as a news- paper writer, in a sympathetic manner with all the subjects of interest to the readers of the Reporter.
MILO Y. OSBORN, only son of Judge and Mrs. W. B. Osborn, pioneer settlers of the Big Thomp- son valley, was born December 13th, 1851, in East Liberty, Ohio. In 1861, he came with his mother to the Big Thompson valley, his father having pre- ceded them the year before, and that valley has been his home for a period of 50 years. On June 10th, 1875, our subject married Louise Frazier, of Denver, a pioneer girl and the first musician of note in the county. Of this union, four sons,
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Clarence, Walter, Kenneth and Llewellyn were born, all of whom are living. Mr. Osborn is a suc- cessful farmer 'and owns a fine farm of 245 acres situated within a mile of Loveland. In 1899, he was elected County Assessor and served one full term, giving excellent satisfaction.
JOHN L. WILLIS .- For more than a third of a century our subject has successfully - followed
JOHN L. WILLIS
farming in Larimer county on land he purchased in 1877, then practically in its native state, without a fence, a tree or bush upon it. There was a home- steader's cabin on the land and that was about all. With true western spirit Mr. Willis went to work and has since improved the place until he now has one of the most attractive and productive farms in the Cache la Poudre valley. He was born Septem- ber 5th, 1850, in Connecticut where he received his education ; married Luella A. Cobb, November 22nd, 1877, who bore him seven children: Mrs. Edith Giddings, Dora, Arthur, Howard, Frank, Leila, and Laura Willis. He came to Colorado in 1875 and settled on the farm, which he still owns and occupies, in 1877, situated about two miles north of the present village of Timnath and about
six miles southeast of Fort Collins. Mrs. Willis died March 27th, 1908, and our subject has since remained single. She was a daughter of Royal Cobb, one of the pioneer wool growers of Larimer county, who died several years ago. Like all of the pioneers who remained in the Cache la Poudre valley, Mr. Willis has made good and is rated as one of its fore- handed and substantial citizens. He had his ups and downs, and his share of hardships, privations and discouragements in the early days, but he never gave up and has the satisfaction now of enjoying the fruits of his labor as the sunset of life ap- proaches.
JOHN E. ANDERSON .- The subject of this sketch was born and educated in Sweden, but renounced his allegiance to his native country to become a citizen of the United States. He came to Fort Collins in 1890 and has since successfully followed farming. He was united in marriage with Miss Amy P. Scott in 1898, and five children have been born to the union, namely, Audrey, John, Robert, Lillie and Pearl.
PHILLIP LARIVIERE was one of the earliest set- tlers of the Cache la Poudre valley, coming here in December, 1859 from Fort Laramie. He was a good type of that class called freighters who played such an important part in the early settlement of the Rocky mountain region. Mr. Lariviere was born in 1840, at Three Rivers, Canada, where he learned the trade of a wheelwright, and in 1858 crossed the Plains to Fort Laramie. When he came to the Caché la Poudre valley in 1859, there was but one white woman here, a Mrs. LaMarsh. In August, 1866, our subject married Mary Harris, the ceremony being performed by Harris Stratton. Eight children, four boys and four girls were born of the union, all of whom are living. Mr. Lari- viere died in May, 1886, from the effects of a kick of a horse.
HENRY P. HANDY .- The subject of this sketch was one of the noted civil engineers of the West, and he left many monuments of his skill as such throughout Colorado, in the planning and construc- tion of large irrigation canals, dams, reservoirs, railroads and bridges. Not the least important of these was the planning and supervising of the sys- tem of water works built by Fort Collins in 1882- 3. He was the locating and construction engineer of the railroad through the Royal Gorge for the Denver & Rio Grande, and also located the Oregon Short Line. One of the large canals in the Big Thompson valley which he laid out and superin-
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HISTORY OF LARIMER
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tended its construction, was named in his honor. Mr. Handy was born near Utica, New York, July 24th, 1832, and died at Nampa, Idaho, in February, 1903. He left a wife and five children. The names of the children are Mrs. Nelia R. King, Nampa, Idaho; Wm. P. Handy, Denver, Colo- rado; George H. Handy, Caldwell, Idaho; Ralph H. Handy and Roy S. Handy. Mr. Handy and his family were residents of Fort Collins for nearly twenty years.
JOHN C. CREED .- Born November 15th, 1833. in Highland county, Ohio. In December, 1861, he enlisted in company D 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, commanded by Col. W. O. Collins, after whom Fort Collins was named. He served until April, 1865, being discharged as sergeant of his company at Omaha, Nebraska. He came to Fort Collins in July, 1881, and continued to live here until he died on March 12, 1896. He was a gal-
HENRY W. CHAMBERLIN
lant soldier and did valiant duty as an Indian fighter on the frontier. He left a widow, Sarah A. Creed, and one son, Charles C. Creed, now of Boise, Idaho,
DAVID JAMES .- Few men have lived in Larimer county who had more friends and exerted a wider influence in the political affairs of the county than did our subject during his lifetime. He began to take a lively interest in public affairs in his early manhood and, for years previous to his death, was a leader and a tower of strength in the councils
DAVID JAMES
and activities of the republican party, and many of the county officers of the past owed their election mainly to the influence and activity David James exerted in their behalf. He was a leader, not a driver, and his friends always had confidence in his sagacity and judgment and followed wherever he led. He was elected the first town marshal of Loveland, an office he held for six or seven years, and served the town as postmaster for nine years, being appointed first by President Mckinley in 1897. Since his death, his widow has held the office having been reappointed for a four years term by President Taft. Mr. James was born July 23rd, 1856, on a farm near Big Rock, Illinois. He re- ceived his education in the public schools of his native state, and in 1879 he came to Colorado and
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located at Loveland, Larimer county, which place remained his home until he died on November 19th, 1906. He was employed on a farm for the first few years and later followed the milling business for five or six years. He was always an active man, never a drone in the hive of industry. He was withal a manly man and he gradually drew about himself a cordon of friends which remained un-
FRANK J. ANNIS
broken to the day of his death. On September 11th, 1884, our subject was joined in marriage with Carrie Shallenberger of Loveland, and four chil- dren, Beulah, Corinne, Lloyd and Carolyn, all living, were born to them. Loveland lost one of its enterprising and public spirited citizens when David James died.
SQUIRE RALPH GIDDINGS, son of Loren Gid- dings, was born December 29th, 1873, in Cameron, Illinois. Ten years later he came with his father's family to Fort Collins, Colorado, arriving Febru- ary 25th, 1883, and here he received his education and learned the trades of blacksmith and machin- ist. On February 22nd, 1900, he was joined in marriage with Edith N. Willis, daughter of John L. Willis, of Timnath. They have two children,
Dora W. and John Howard Giddings. With im- provised anvils and bellows our subject and his brother, Frank, started in the blacksmith business when boys. The two boys earned their first $5 in Colorado grubbing sage bush for N. C. Alford. Our subject invented and had patented in 1911, the Gidding's beet puller which he is now manu- facturing at his shop in Timnath.
WILLIAM H. TURNER, son of Peter Turner, the founder of the town of Berthoud, was born July 4th, 1867, at Red Oak, Iowa; reared on a farm and attended the public schools of Larimer county ; married Otie Kerby, September 30th, 1896, who died November 8th, 1907; married for his second wife, Mary Bramhell, July 22nd, 1908. His five children are named Gerald, Rebekah, William P., Louise and Lloyd Turner. Mr. Turner came with his parents to Sunshine, Boulder county, in Sep- tember, 1873, and to the Little Thompson valley, October 10th, 1877. His late boyhood years were spent mainly in the saddle riding the range as a cowboy, but he is now a successful and prosperous farmer. He owns and carries on one of the best farms between Fort Collins and Denver, situated 1} miles north of Berthoud, and is also a breeder of Norman horses, lines of work he expects to carry on all his life.
VINCENZ DEMMEL was born in April, 1838, near Munich, Bavaria, where he was educated, sub- sequently learning the shoemaker's trade. He came to the United States in 1872, and to Fort Col- lins in April, 1873, which place was his home until he died on May 3rd, 1897. Mr. Demmel had built for his use as a shoe shop and residence, one of the first frame buildings erected in Fort Collins, which he occupied and in which he worked at his trade for nearly a quarter of a century. The build- ing is standing on the original site on Jefferson street, next east of the City Hotel. His wife, two sons and two daughters, survived him until 1909, when one of the daughters died in Fort Col- lins. The other daughter, Miss Margaret is a grad- uate of the Fort Collins High school and has been a valued and very efficient teacher in the public schools of Fort Collins for several years. The two sons own and occupy one of the finest farms in the Boxelder valley and are good and prosperous citi- zens.
JOHN H. SIMPSON, Loveland, Colo., is a native of Ohio, born at Attica, October 11th, 1871. His education was obtained in the public schools of the
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period and at Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio, grad- uating therefrom in 1894. Adopting the law as a profession he entered upon a course of study in that science at Akron, Ohio, and was admitted to prac- tice in 1895. On August 21st, 1899, Mr. Simpson was joined in marriage with Elsie May Carson, and they have two children, Pauline and John Carson Simpson. In the summer of 1903 he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he opened an office and began the practice of his profession, removing thence on September 1st, 1906, to Loveland, which city is still his home. Before coming to Colorado Mr. Simpson practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio, and was United States Commissioner for the Northern district of that state. He was admitted to the practice of the law in the courts of Colorado in 1904 and is a member of the County Bar Association. He is well versed in the principles of jurisprudence and has met with gratifying success as counsel and advocate in the practice of his profession, as the
JOHN H. SIMPSON
trial docket in both the county and district courts of Larimer county clearly show. He is an able and conscientious lawyer as his clients are at all times ready to testify.
FRANK W. MOORE .- This is a short life story of one of the most successful of Fort Collins' young business men and also one of the most popular and efficient public officials Larimer county ever had. He was born on September 17th, 1877, the fif- teenth anniversary of the battle of Antietam, one of the most sanguinary of the Civil war, and is a native son of Fort Collins. He began his school
FRANK W. MOORE
life in the kindergarten and rose, year by year, through all the grades, graduating from the High school in 1897. After leaving school he became associated in business with his father, Ex-Alderman Thomas L. Moore, remaining in that connection six years. On January 1st, 1905, he was appointed deputy county treasurer under Col. T. C. Ramey, and gave excellent satisfaction during both of Mr. Ramey's terms of office, a period of four years. At the republican county convention held in October, 1908, Mr. Moore was the choice of his party for county treasurer to succeed Col. Ramey, and was triumphantly elected in November of that year. He was reelected in 1910 and is now serving a second term in that highly important and responsible posi- tion. He is vigorous in both thought and action, is
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quick of comprehension in the grasping of the point in any question that comes before him, accurate in his work and faithful and trustworthy in all things. He has made and is making one of the best public officials the county ever had. On March 1st, 1905, Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Jessie Ramer, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Ramer, who are pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley. One daughter, now one year old has blessed the union. The home life of Mr. and Mrs. Moore is an ideally happy one.
JUDGE A. Q. MCGREGOR, former county judge of Larimer county, was killed by lightning on June 17th, 1896, in Estes Park. He was a native of Wisconsin, but came to Colorado in 1871. In 1883 he was appointed county judge, to fill a vacancy, serving until January, 1885. He then resumed the practice of law in Fort Collins, later moving to Denver. He had large property interests in Estes Park and he and his family spent the summers there.
JOHN MCNABB .- Stout of heart, strong of limb, wiry of frame and keen of eye the subject of this sketch has spent the greater part of the past thirty years tracking game among the lofty peaks and pine clad hills of the Medicine Bow range of mountains, or looking after the headgates and re- pairs of the Water Supply and Storage Company's system of mountain ditches and reservoirs. So long has he been a mountaineer engaged in these em- ployments that he seems to be a part and parcel of the Medicine Bow range. One can scarcely think of the mountains without coupling John McNabb with them, and vice-versa. There is not a peak, a cliff, a park, a gulch, a stream, a rivulet or a belt of timber in the whole range that he has not explored and he can tell just where each is located and all about all of them. Mr. McNabb was born November 30th, 1859, at Woodville, Township of Eldon, Canada. He is descended from sturdy, Scotch ancestors who were pioneers of Canada. When fourteen years of age he left his home in Canada and went to Lyon county, Minnesota, where he remained about eight years, and his twin brother lives there yet. He came from Minnesota to Colorado in 1880 with John Zimmerman and first located at Cameron pass in Larimer county, later going to North Park near the present town of Walden, where he lived for four years. He then moved into the Cache la Poudre valley near Zimmermans, and three years later to Fort Collins, which city has since been his home for most of the
time. While living on the Poudre during the mining excitement at Lulu and Teller, he carried the mail for S. B. Stewart from Chambers lake to those points and was obliged to make the twenty- five mile trip going and coming on snow shoes in the winter time, often with a pack weighing from fifty to eighty pounds strapped to his back. On December 20th, 1886, Mr. McNabb was united
JOHN MCNABB
in marriage with Anna Sinclair at Laramie, Wyo- ming, and their union has proved a happy one. They have no children.
DAVID HERSHMAN .- Is a native of Wayne county, Ohio, born September 24th, 1839. In 1850, his father moved his family to Lansing, Mich- igan, then a new and undeveloped region. When 21 years of age, Mr. Hershman went to Illinois and hired out to a farmer for $14.50 per month, which was good wages in those days. In 1865 he came across the Plains with his brother John, ar- riving in Denver, July 12th. In the latter part of August he came to the Big Thompson valley, which has since, until quite recently, been his home. He is now a resident of Boulder. His business ventures have been successful and he is possessed
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of a comfortable competence to smooth the way of his declining years. He has raised a family of "ten children all boys except nine," as he puts it. He has always borne a splendid reputation for probity, integrity and clean living and is highly respected by all who know him.
BARBARA McINTOSH, now deceased, was born in 1828, in Scotland. She received her education at Godmanchester, and, in 1860, married William Gray Morrison. Four boys and two girls blessed the union of which two only survive their parents : William J. Morrison of Seattle, Wash., and Mrs. Isabella Hyde, wife of John Hyde of Estes Park, Colo. Mrs. Morrison came to Denver in 1893, moving thence three years later to Estes Park, where she died October 8th, 1910, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hyde. She survived her hus- band by about 26 years, and her remains were taken to Trout River for burial.
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.
F. M. SAMUELS was born in Knox county, Illi- nois, near Galesburg, on September 27th, 1844. Four years later his family moved to Wapalow county, and at 10 years of age the boy was put at work on his father's farm. He was kept at home quite strict, and was 12 years old before he traveled a dozen miles. In July, 1863, he came to Colorado, arriving in Denver on the 2nd. There he worked at whatever was offered till August, when he came to the Big Thompson valley and worked out helping the farmers, getting from 75 cents to $1.50 a day, his dinner being allowed. The next spring his father Harvey H. Samuels, his brother John R., and he bought a claim; later they took up claims adjoining, all being on the Big Thompson three miles southeast from Love- land's present site. In connection with farming F. M. engaged at stock raising and times were prosperous with him. They sold much of their produce and beef cattle to neighboring towns and
at the mines, and many a load they hauled to Cheyenne, a dangerous journey in those days, owing to prowling bands of Arapahoes and Sioux and those fellows were ever on a raid or the war path. Farming and stock raising were his pursuits and many a day he spent in the saddle on the round-up
F. M. SAMUELS
with Dave Wyatt as boss. But prices were at the top notch. He has paid $7.50 to $12.50 for a hundred pound sack of flour and the late spring of 1864 it was held at $25, owing to a flood that prevented travel from the supply stations. On the other hand they sold hay for a good price, refusing one time $60 a ton for it in stack. They sold potatoes and grain from ten to fifteen cents a pound, and the market was always wanting wheat, corn and vegetables. F. M. Samuels and Edith Mason were married in Fort Collins in 1893. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Mason who resided at Longmont, then moved to Masonville. It was a happy marriage and the two live together in comfort and happiness in one of the neatest residences in Loveland.
SIMON DUNCAN, one of the very few. remaining pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley crossed the
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great divide on Wednesday, January 30th, 1907, at his farm home seven miles southeast of Fort Collins, aged nearly 78 years. Mr. Duncan was a native of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He crossed the plains with an ox team in 1860 and located in Denver in June of that year. After residing in that city until 1865, he moved his family to a ranch situated on the river two miles west of
:
SIMON DUNCAN
the present town of Windsor, where he lived until 1872, when he located on a farm one mile east of the present village of Timnath, on which he died. Mr. Duncan had been a familiar figure in the Cache la Poudre valley for more than forty years and had done well his part toward setting up the standard of civilization in the wilderness. He was widely admired for his rugged honesty, his strict integrity and genial hospitality. Besides an aged wife Mr. Duncan was survived by a daughter and three sons: Mrs. Lizzie M. Holmes, of Denver; Perry A. and John, of Sheridan, Wyoming; and Charles A. To Charles fell the lot of carrying on the old farm that his father redeemed from the wilderness nearly forty years ago. Mr. Duncan was one of the foremost farmers and stock raisers
of the Cache la Poudre valley, a loyal citizen of the county, an excellent friend and neighbor and a kind and indulgent husband and father. His whole life had been a busy and useful one and the world was better for his having lived in it.
WATSON ZIEGLER was born in Sigourney, Keo- kuk County, Iowa, and married Mary Tomlinson, September 25th, 1883. He came to Colorado in May, 1880, locating first in Leadville, coming thence to Larimer County in 1896. Mr. Ziegler was a minister of the gospel of the Seventh Day Ad- ventist denomination, but after fifteen years work in the ministry his health became impaired and for the past few years has given much of his time to temporal pursuits. During this time he became associated with the late Wellington Hibbard and together they placed the Laramie-Poudre irrigation project on the road to success. With his brother, he has done much in the Harmony district towards establishing farming in Colorado upon a scientific basis.
C. RUGH, for many years one of the substantial business men and progressive citizens of Greeley, was born in 1854, at Rugh's station, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, in the stone house that his father was born and died in. He came with his family from his native county to Fort Collins in 1887, and engaged in the grocery business which he followed for several years. Upon retiring from that business, he moved his family to Greeley which place has been his home for about 17 years, and where he has since been in the potato shipping busi- ness. He served on the Greeley City Council from 1900 to 1905. He has been successful in his under- takings and is counted as one of the solid, substan- tial men of that city. He is proud of his six chil- dren, as he has reason to be.
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