History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 101

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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JOHN V. JILLICH.

Mr. Jillich, of the banking firm of Steb- bins, Post & Co., was born in September, 1833, at Cambridge, Mass. He received the educa- tional advantages afforded by the Boston High Schools, until he attained the age of fifteen years. He then accepted a situation as clerk in a wholesale dry goods house, subsequently removing to Ohio, where he embarked in the mercantile business, for a short time, when he engaged in the banking business. In 1867, he removed to Atchison, Kan., where he continued the banking business for nine years. He then removed to Cheyenne, Wyo- ming, where he connected himself with the well-known banking house of Stebbins, Post & Co. In February, 1880, he removed to Sil- ver Cliff, Colo., to take charge of the branch house at that place. He was married, Octo- ber, 1859, to Miss Mattie Morrison, and has two children.

C. A. JOHNSON.

C. A. Johnson, editor of the The Sierra Journal, of Rosita, was born in Clinton County, Ohio, October 10, 1854, being now twenty-

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seven years of age. He removed to Illinois, with his parents, when ten years of age. At the age of sixteen, he completed an academic course in the Illinois State University. Leaving home, he came to Colorado, in 1868, and engaged in mining and prospecting, and traveled considerably through the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. He came to what is now Custer County in 1873, but engaged in mining at Mt. Lincoln, Park Co., and in the San Juan country, from 1874 to 1878, returning to Rosita, Custer Co., in the latter year and engaged in mining. He pur- chased the Rosita Index of Charles Baker, in June, 1880, the paper having a circulation, at that time, of 250. Since Mr. Johnson took charge, the circulation has rapidly increased, and is now abont 1,200, being the second larg- est circulation in Southern Colorado. He changed the name of the paper to The Sierra Journal. He makes a special feature of the mining interests of the county, and has done much to advertise the resources of the Wet Mountain Valley and adjacent ranges.

JOHN H. LEARY.

John H. Leary, the popular and obliging County Clerk of Custer County, was born in Edenton, N. C., January 8, 1852, and edu- cated at a private school in his native State. He went to Kansas City, Mo., in 1871, and engaged in mercantile business for two years, coming to Colorado in 1873, and locating a ranch in the Wet Mountain Valley. He re- moved to Rosita, in January, 1874, purchased several town lots and erected buildings there- on that winter, and the following spring lo- cated the Shetland Mine, in Carolina. Gulch, about three miles northwesterly from Rosita, in which he still retains a half-interest. He was, for a short time, engaged in merchandis- ing. He was elected County Clerk and Re- corder, in October, 1877 (the first election for officers in the county), was re-elected in Octo- ber, 1879, and still holds the office. He has also held the office of Clerk of the District Court, during three years of that time. He was, for some time, Chairman of the Demo- cratic County Central Committee. Mr. Leary was married, in November, 1880, to Miss Rose Schoolfield, of Custer County. Mr.

Leary is an efficient and faithful public offi- cer, and the many important trusts imposed upon him are evidence of the estimation in which he is held by his fellow-citizens.

REUBEN C. LUESLEY.

Mr. Luesley, who is a native of Ohio, was born in Brown County November 1, 1836, where he received a thorough academic edu- cation. In 1860, he was married to Miss Elizabeth J. Leibee, subsequently embarking in the dry goods business, at Geneseo, Ill. In the spring of 1869, he went to Iowa, and engaged in farming, which business was a failure, on account of Mr. Luesley having no knowledge whatever of farming. After a three years' trial, he left Iowa and came to Colorado and again engaged in the mercan- tile business at Colorado Springs. He re- moved his business to San Juan County, in 1875, where he remained five years, two years of which time he was Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. Mr. Luesley was also the discoverer of the Cleveland Mine of that county, which he sold for the handsome sum of $26,500. He came to Silver Cliff in November, 1880, and engaged in the clothing business, which business he still continues.

J. W. MCCRACKEN.

J. W. McCracken was born, July 23, 1825, in Columbiana County, Ohio. He received a thorough academic education, and, at the age of nineteen, went to Memphis, Tenn., where he spent three years in clerking and running on the river. He then engaged for fifteen years in the mercantile business in Mem- phis. In 1861, he removed to Illinois, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. He came to Colorado in March, 1872, and engaged in shipping stock and provisions, subsequently engaging in the sheep business, for three and a half years. He then sold out and removed to Silver Cliff, and engaged in mining and real estate business. Mr. Mc- Cracken was married, in 1866, to Miss Mary Malone, and has three children.

ALEXANDER M. McELHINNEY.

Mr. McElHinney, the present Postmaster of Silver Cliff, was born Feb. 23, 1838, in Wash-

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ington Co., Ohio, his early life being spent on a farm. He received a thorough academic education, and, at the age of twenty-five years, embarked in the photographic business in Pittsburgh, Penn., following the business two years. He subsequently engaged in the mer- cantile business for four years; he then re- moved to Lincoln, Neb. Here, Mr. McElHin- ney engaged successively in the real estate, auction and commission business. He then took the Tichnor House, which he kept for two years, but owing to the panic of 1873, he failed in business, losing over $38,000. To retrieve his losses, he then came to Colorado, and located at the new mining camp of Ros- ita, and engaged in the mercantile business. He removed to Silver Cliff on the 9th of Sep- tember, 1879, opening the first store in the Cliff. He received the appointment of Post- master, January, 1880, previous to which time he kept an accommodation office. Mr. McElHinney is one of Custer County's lead- ing and public spirited men. He was mar- ried, in September, 1872, to Miss Lizzie P. Ellis, daughter of Dr. Ellis, of Greenupsburg, Ky., and has five children.

GEN. JOHN T. MCNEELY.

Gen. McNeely was born in Menard County, Ill., in May, 1841. He attended district school, and, at the age of fifteen years, began to learn the printer's trade. The year of 1858 was spent in Texas. He returned to Peters- burg the following year, and completed his trade. In 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Fourteenth Illinois United States Volunteers, and was discharged the following year on ac- count of disability. In 1863, he re-enlisted, receiving the commission of Second Lieuten- ant. In 1864, he went on the stage as John Tilton, meeting with brilliant success for four years. In 1868, he began the publication of the Petersburg Republican, which he conducted successfully for three years, reading law at the same time. He was admitted to the Illi- nois bar in 1871; this year, he received the appointment of Postmaster at Petersburg, which he resigned the following year to run for the office of County Attorney, being de- feated. He then went to Kansas, where he practiced law one year, thence to Denver,

Colo. He went to Colorado Springs to spend the winter, and in January, moved to Ula, Custer Co., and was there occupied in his pro- fession until 1878, when he removed to Rosita, and thence to Silver Cliff, in the spring of 1879. He was elected Chairman of the County Republican Committee in 1877, which position he still holds. Gen. McNeely was one of the attorneys in the celebrated Bull- Domingo case, where he distinguished himself as a mining lawyer, receiving for his services the handsome fee of $7,000. At the State Convention, in 1880, he was urged by his friends, for the nomination of Congressman, but withdrew his name, and, in a telling speech, placed in nomination the name of James B. Belford, who received the nomina- tion. He received the appointment of Briga- dier General of the Second Division of the Colorado National Guards in the spring of 1881, by Gov. Pitkin. He was married, in 1871, to Miss Carrie Snape, and has six chil- dren.

JAMES A. MELVIN.

J. A. Melvin was born in Maryland in 1826; his early life was spent on a farm and attend- ing the public schools; at the age of twenty- five years, he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, in which he continued until 1868. He then came to Colorado, and spent four years prospecting and mining in Gilpin County. He then removed to Rosita, Custer Co., con- tinuing the mining business and buying and selling real estate, being very successful. In 1880, he removed to Silver Cliff, and formed a partnership with Judge Walts, in the real estate business, the firm now being known as Walts & Melvin.

HON. B. F. MONTGOMERY.

This gentleman was born in Ohio in 1835, and graduated at Ashland University in that State. His parents being poor, he worked and taught school to obtain means to finish his education, and may be termed, emphati- cally, a self-made man. He afterward read law, while teaching school, to obtain a liveli- hood, and in May, 1857, was admitted to the bar on application to the Supreme Court of Ohio, Judge Noah H. Swayne being a mem- ber of the examining committee. He imme-

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diately commenced the practice of law, at London, Madison Co., Ohio, and in December of the same year he was admitted to the bar. He was married, to Miss Edethe Riddle. He removed to La Crosse, Wis., in the spring of 1860, and there resumed the practice of his profession; he remained there for eight years, during which time he made a State reputation as a trial lawyer, and especially as an advo- cate before a jury. While residing there, two sons were born, W. S. and M. H., who are now residing at Silver Cliff, Colo., the former editor and proprietor of the daily and weekly Prospect, the latter connected with the banking house of Stebbins, Post & Co. At La Crosse, he had the misfortune of losing his wife, who died of typhoid fever on New Year's Day, 1865. In the fall of 1866, he was nominated by the Democrats of La Crosse County as their can- didate for the State Senate, and made the contest against the Hon. Angus Cameron, now United States Senator from that State, and was beaten by a few votes, but ran largely ahead of his ticket. In 1868, at the request of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Com- pany, he went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and became the attorney of that corporation at that point, and, during his ten years' residence there, was connected with several of the rail- roads at that point as their attorney. He was the Democratic nominee for Congress from the Sixth District of Iowa, in 1870, his com- petitor being Hon. Frank W. Palmer, now Postmaster of the city of Chicago. In 1876, he was the Democratic candidate for the State Senate, and, although defeated, led his ticket by over 500 votes. He was four suc- cessive times a member of the National Dem- ocratic Conventions, from 1864 to 1876, in- clusive. In the convention of 1876, he was appointed the member from Iowa on the com- mittee to notify the nominees of the action of the convention. He also served his party ably as the editor of the Council Bluffs Daily Times, the Democratic organ of Western Iowa, for several years, as well as on the stump, in each successive canvass. As a terse, forcible writer and speaker, he has but few equals, if any superiors, in the West. He married his present wife in La Crosse, in 1867. In No- vember, 1878, he came to Colorado on a tour

of recreation, but became interested in some valuable mining property, near where Silver Cliff now is, and was also employed in the celebrated and notorious mining litigation, in the case of Hunter vs. Rarich et al., known as the Bull-Domingo suit. This case was contested in court under cover of revolvers, and out of court, by large armies of armed men on either side. In June, 1869, the de- fendants, for whom Mr. Montgomery appeared as counsel, obtained a decree in their favor, which, on appeal to the Supreme Court, was affirmed. The ability, nerve and determina- tion displayed by him in this contest, gave him an enviable reputation as a lawyer, and he is now recognized as a leading member of the profession in Northern Colorado. All over the State, he is recognized as a repre- sentative man, who, by his own energy, perse- verance and ability, has amassed a comforta- ble fortune. He is largely interested in mines in Colorado and is engaged in the active man- agement of several properties, beside which he owns a handsome residence and farm prop- erty at Council Bluffs, Iowa. Mr. Mont- gomery is positive and uncompromising in his views on all questions of the day, open- hearted and benevolent, has warm friends and bitter enemies, neither of whom he ever forgets. He is unrelenting in the cause of his clients, and is always listened to with marked attention and interest in the discus- sion of legal propositions before the courts. He has probably done more for the develop- ment and building-up of the mining and mate- rial interests of Silver Cliff and Custer County than any other single one of her many good citizens.

W. S. MONTGOMERY.

Mr. Montgomery is the eldest son of Hon. B. F. Montgomery, of Silver Cliff, Colo. He is editor and general manager of the daily and weekly Prospect, published at that point. He is now but twenty-three years of age, a practical printer and a remarkably strong and pungent writer, and is making the journal he edits a power in Northern Colorado.

D. M. PARKER, M. D.

Prominent in the list of the medical pro- fession in Custer County stands the name of

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D. M. Parker, born in Franklin County, Vt., in April, 1848. He received an academic education, at Fairfax (New Hampton) Insti- tute.

At the age of nineteen years, he com- menced studying for the profession, with the firm of Drs. Hamilton & Smith, subsequently taking three courses of lectures in the medical department of the University of Vermont, graduating in 1870. He immediately com- menced practice, in Orleans County, where he remained seven years, being very successful. Being compelled to change climate, on account of failing health, he came to Colorado, in the fall of 1877, locating at Rosita, where he at once resumed practice, devoting part of his time to the educational interests of the county. He was elected County School Superintend- ent, in the fall of 1879, having since re-organ- ized and re-districted the schools of the county. Dr. Parker having confidence in the future of the town, began to invest his money, being rewarded by now being the owner of much valuable real estate. He was married to Miss Nettie H. Pinney in 1871.

CHARLES C. PERKINS.

Mr. Perkins was born in May, 1826, in New Castle, Me. His boyhood was spent on a farm and at sea. He then learned the car- penter's trade, and, at the age of twenty-one years, he started to California via Cape Horn, arriving in San Francisco in June, 1850. He there engaged in the lumber and mining business for twelve years. In 1862, he went to Virginia City, Nev., and engaged in min- ing and milling. He had charge of the con- struction of the Treasure Hill Mining Com- pany's mill, in White Pine country, and was made Superintendent of the Treasure Hill Mining Company, and subsequently had charge of the Meadow Valley property. He remained in Nevada nine years, and subse- quently spent five years in Utah. He then returned, through Nevada, to California. In 1878, he had. charge of the Murchie Mining Company's property. He then went to the Black Hills, where he was connected with the Father De Smet Mining Company. Mr. Per- kins has superintended the construction of many of the best mills in California and

Nevada. He came to Silver Cliff in January, 1880, and took charge of the property belong- ing to the Silver Cliff Mining Company, and has superintended the construction of their new 40-stamp mill, just completed. Mr. Per- kins was married, in 1853, to Miss Deborah Robinson, of Maine, and has one daughter.

JAMES PRINGLE.

James Pringle, one of the oldest and most successful prospectors in Colorado (or North America), was born in Roxburghshire, Scotland, near the early home of Thomas Carlyle, in 1838. He came to America in 1855, lived a year in New York State and a year in Western Canada, and went to California in 1857, mined in placers on American River, for six years, with varying success. In 1865, he went to Boise Basin, Idaho Territory, and put in four years mining in Idaho and Montana Territories. He joined the rush to White Pine, Nev., in 1869. Not finding fortune there, he tried Southern Utah and Arizona, where he soon got enough of that arid land and Apache interference, and came to Colo- rado, in 1870, via Prescott, Ariz. Ter., and the Moqui villages, and the Navajo country, to the Mexican settlement of Tierra Amarilla, fifty miles southwest from Conejos, Colo., hav- ing a Navajo Indian guide. Settling down in Canon City, in 1871, he spent the summers prospecting, and was one of the first locators in Rosita, being one of the three who organ- ized the Hardscrabble Mining District (W. J. Robinson and Richard Irwin being the other two), and was one of the members of the Hoyt Mining Company. He has made a fort,- une out of the mines around Rosita, but still, from force of habit, goes out into the mount- ains every summer, in search of a new camp. This season he is in Eastern Utah. He gene- rally spends the winters in his comfortable bachelor's quarters at Rosita, with his books and his friends. He represents an energetic class of our best citizens, who explore the wilderness and prepare the way for a more crowded and luxurious civilization-a class whose occupation is almost gone in the United States, but Old Mexico, with open gates, is near at hand, and Mr. Pringle intends moving down there this winter. Like most prospect-

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ors, he is strictly temperate, and always keeps a good horse and gun.

WILLIAM. J. ROBINSON.

Mr. Robinson was born in Brown County, Ill., in 1838; went to Nevada in 1864, where he engaged in the stock-raising and ranching business, in Smoky Valley. In 1867, he en- gaged in mining, near Aurora, Esmeralda Co., and was afterward one of the discoverers of the Silver Peak Mines, in Inyo County, after which he prospected the Amagoosha Range of mountains, bordering on Death Valley. His familiarity with the Shoshonic Indian language, and their knowledge of his ability as a scout and hunter, gave him superior ad- vantages for exploring that desert country, where water is so very scarce, and where so many have perished from thirst. This is the famous region where the Breyfogle Mine was discovered years ago, and lost again, and never found. It was discovered by an old German prospector, named Breyfogle, who brought into the settlements very rich gold specimens that he claimed to have knocked off the solid croppings of a large ledge on the borders of Death Valley. After several unsuccessful trips, he died, and many others have met a similar fate in the sad search. And still, year after year, the. search is kept up as the search for Kinzie's Gulch was in Colorado, from 1861 to 1870. Bill Robinson thinks there is some- thing very rich to be found yet in the vicinity of Death Valley, and when we last met him (a year ago), after having realized $100,000 from a sale of his last discovery, the Plata Verde, at Silver Cliff, he contemplated a trip there, or to the new Volcanic Silver Mines of Alaska, or to the Upper Vaal River, in South Africa, where he thought gold and "pound diggings" might be found. Probably he will again locate in Custer County, satisfied that it beats the world.

CAPT. R. ROUNDS.

Capt. Rounds was born in the town of Rut- land, Vt., September, 1841. He learned the trade of marble-cutting, and, at the age of twenty-one years, enlisted in the First Ver- mont Infantry; he served three years, during which time he was promoted to the office of

Captain. He spent the years of 1865 and 1866 in New York City, in the brokerage bus- iness; he then went West, spending the suc- Ceeding three years in Montana, Dakota and Utah. July 3, 1870, he came to Denver and established the Denver Marble Works, which he sold at the end of two years; 1873, 1874 and 1875, he spent mining and prospecting in the San Juan country; in 1876, he went to Garland, the terminus of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and engaged in the book and stationery business one year. He came to Silver Cliff in October, 1878, and estab- lished himself in the book and stationery business, which business he still continues. He is also agent for the Colorado Stage & Express and Silver Cliff & Texas Creek Stage Companies.

GEORGE H. RUSSELL, M. D.

Dr. George H. Russell was born in Wilton, N. H., November 5, 1834; he received a thor- ough academic education, and, in 1856, went to Missouri, where he engaged in teaching and commenced the study of medicine. When the war broke out, he was one of the first to respond, and was given a commission, by Gov. O. P. Morton, of Indiana, as Assistant Surgeon of the Fifth Indiana Cavalry. He was detailed at Indianapolis as Examining Surgeon for several months, but a great por- tion of the time he spent with his regiment and in the hospitals. At the close of the war, he located at Indianapolis, Ind., and, in 1867, he went to Cheyenne, Wyoming, Territory, where he remained for twelve years, actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his profession. He was one of the early set- tlers of Silver Cliff, locating there in January, 1879, and at once identifying himself with its interests. Dr. Russell being a close student, and, having studied the climatic influences of the country, continued his practice with his usual success. In 1867, he was married to Miss Mary Hubbard, daughter of Rufus Hub- bard, of Keokuk, Iowa, who was formerly an extensive merchant of Cincinnati, Ohio, and intimately connected with its public schools and educational interests. Dr. Russell re- ceived the degree of M. D., in 1870, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keo-

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kuk, Iowa. In 1880, he was appointed United States Examining Surgeon of Pensions. The Doctor has enjoyed a lucrative practice, and is the owner of valuable mining and town property.

ELLIS SERJEANT.

Ellis Serjeant, County Treasurer of Custer County, Colo., was elected to that office in October, 1880, holding the office from the fol- lowing January. He was born in Lebanon, Ohio, on the 24th of December, 1824; lived in Indiana until he was twenty-one years of age; then he removed to Jasper County, Mo., where he remained until 1874. Coming to Rosita, Colo,, he has since been in business as contractor and builder. He is a pleasant, genial and reliable gentleman.

HON. CHARLES R. SIEBER.

Mr. Sieber, Representative from Fremont County in the first session of the State Legis- lature, where, by his efforts, to a great extent, the county of Custer was created, was born on the 28th of January, 1846, at Neisen, in Prussian Silesia, which place he left, for America, in 1860. He remained a year and a half, engaged in the fur business in Cana- da; came to Chicago in 1861, and went, shortly after, on the plains, where he was in the employ of Holladay & Co., and Wells, Fargo & Co., in Wyoming and Montana, until 1870, when he came to Colorado, and was among the first to settle in Wet Mountain Valley, where he has since resided. He is largely interested in real estate at Rosita. He was married to Miss Palmer in 1871. He has been engaged in the ranching, stock and butchering business, with Mr. Joshua Hudson, since 1874. They have 1,200 acres under fence; keep a herd of 600 beef cattle, and supply Silver Cliff and Rosita with beef, killing twenty head a week, or about 1,400 per annum. Mr. Sieber made a visit to-his old home, in Europe, last winter, but found it too slow and old-fashioned; he is contented now in his new home.

CHARLES A. SMITH.

Mr. Smith was born in Fort Madison, Iowa, July 13, 1850; he resided in his native town, engaged in the hardware and agricultural

implement business, until February, 1880, when he came to Colorado and started the Fort Madison saw-mill, seven miles from Sil- ver Cliff. He has cut and sold large quanti- ties of lumber at Silver Cliff, Rosita and the different mines. He was married, in 1874, to Miss Ella Edwards, of Fort Madison, Iowa, and has one daughter, four years of age.

G. W. SMITH.

The subject of this sketch came to Colorado and located in Wet Mountain Valley, in 1870. He was born in Berlin, Ohio, November 13, 1819. He received a good education, and then taught school, and read law for seven years. He was admitted to the Huron County bar, in Ohio, and practiced law in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, for four years. In 1849, he took a trip to California, where he spent two years in mining. He then prac- ticed law ten years, in Minnesota. In 1863, he crossed the plains to Montana, in company with Capt. Fisk; he spent six years in Mon- tana, hunting and trapping; he came to Col- orado, in 1870, and located in Wet Mountain Valley, and engaged in stock-raising and farming. Mr. Smith has a well-improved farm of 240 acres, two miles from Silver Cliff, where he resides, and makes a specialty of raising fine horses. He is one of Custer County's most honored citizens.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 101

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080