History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 60

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

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East, he started for the new El Dorado ; but on arriving at Big Sandy, in the eastern part of this State, he met hundreds of parties return- ing, who gave such discouraging accounts of this country that he joined the stampede and returned to Illinois. In the spring of 1860, he again came to Colorado, and after spending some time at Boulder, Gold Hill and Denver, went to Central City, Gilpin Co., where he engaged in mining a short time. He then began freighting between Denver and Central City, and in buying cattle for the markets of the latter place. The following fall he worked in a saw-mill in Georgia Gulch three months, then came to Colorado City, El Paso Co., and from here took an ox-train back to Plattsmouth, Neb., and from there went to Illinois. In the spring of 1862, he returned to Colorado City, and from that to 1866 was engaged in raising and buying and selling stock. During the latter year he removed with his family to Oregon, where he remained two years variously engaged. He then returned to Colorado City, and during the succeeding four years was en- gaged in freighting between Colorado City and the mountain camps. In 1872, he went to San Juan in Southwesterm Colorado, where he followed mining and teaming eight years. During the summer of 1880, he bought a one- third interest in the Luona Mine in the Elk Mountains of Gunnison County, which has since been stocked at $4,000,000, and located seven leads on the same mountain. After two decades Mr. Banning is reaping the reward for which he has earnestly labored and for which he left the civilization of the East for the wilds of the Far West. His home since 1862 has been principally at Colorado City, where he still resides. Mr. Banning was married in 1858 to Miss Melissa Rose, of Newton, Iowa, and has a family of two sons.

J. W. COLLINS, M. D.

The above named physician was born in Green County, Ala., December 22, 1835, and is of Irish and Scotch descent. His education was completed in the University of Alabama, at Tus- caloosa. At the age of twenty-two he began reading medicine under Dr. James J. Forrester, at which he continued two years. At the expir- ation of this time he entered the medical de- partment of the University of Louisiana, at New Orleans, from which he graduated March

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20, 1860. He then began the practice of medi- cine in Marengo County, Ala., until September 13, 1861, when he enlisted in Company A, Third Alabama Cavalry, as Third Sergeant. He served in this office until August, 1862, when, after an examination by the Medical Board, he was promoted to Surgeon, and was assigned to the Eighth Regular Tennessee Infantry. In De- cember, 1863, was re-assigned to the First Ten- nessee Infantry, with which he served until the spring of 1864, when he was assigned to his old company, the Third Alabama Cavalry. After the close of the war he located in Clark County, Miss., where he practiced his profession five years. He then removed to Jackson, Tenn., in 1869, where he continued at his profession until 1879. He then removed to Colorado Springs, and has been actively en- gaged in the practice of medicine. Dr. Collins was married in 1856 to Miss L. E. Gilmore, of Gaston, Ala., and is the head of a family of four children-two sons and two daughters.

HON. JOHN B. COCHRAN.

Mr. Cochran, a member of the legal profes- sion of Colorado Springs, was born in Spencer Co., Ky., July 19, 1824, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. His early life, until attaining his eighteenth year, was spent on a farm and in attending private schools. He subsequently went to Lexington, Ky., and entered the Tran- sylvania University, from which institution he graduated. He then determined to adopt the legal profession, and began applying himself studiously to the study of law. After being admitted to the bar, he began practice at Shelby- ville, in his native State, and from that time until the spring of 1880 practiced there and at Louisville, Ky. He then came to Colorado Springs where he has since resided, engaged in the practice of his profession. During the war of the rebellion, Mr. Cochran served four years in the Kentucky Legislature, an unconditional Unionist, and did much to prevent his State from seceding. He was married in 1855 to Miss Magdalen M. Cochran, of Virginia, a lineal descendant of Col. Charles Lewis, who perished at the head of his regiment at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, and has a family of two sons.

CAPT. GILES CRISSEY.

Mr. Crissey, an enterprising lumber dealer of Colorado Springs, was born in Fairfield Co.,

Conn., April 9, 1840. At the age of seven be re- moved with his parents to Warren Co., Ill., where he attended public school until fifteen years of age, and subsequently spent one year at Lombard College, in Galesburg, Ill. He then clerked in a general mercantile store in Greenbush, Ill., and from there went to Avon, Fulton Co., same State, where he continued in that occupation three years longer. In 1862, he enlisted in the Fighty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was, by his com- pany, elected Orderly Sergeant. His company was sent to Fort Henry, and subsequently was stationed at Fort Donelson, and at Clarksville and Nashville, Tenn. In 1863, he was promot- ed to rank of Captain, and in the spring of 1865 was honorably mustered-out of the service. He then returned to Fulton Co., Ill., where he was engaged in the lumber business until 1873. During the latter year he came to Colorado and located in Colorado Springs, where he has since been actively engaged in the lumber busi- ness. In 1878, he was elected a member of the City Council, which office he honorably filled one term. Capt. Crissey was married in January 1867, to Miss Ellen Mings, of Avon, Ill., and has a family of four children-two sons and two daughters.

CAPT. WILLIAM L. CONANT.

Capt. Conant, of the wholesale and retail grocery firm of Conant & Thedinga, in Colo- rado Springs, was born in New York City May 30, 1841. After attending the public schools of that city he completed his education at the age of nineteen, in Thompson's Boarding School, at Port Chester, N. Y., whither his par- ents had removed. He then entered his father's store in the capacity of clerk. In 1861, on the breaking-out of the war of the rebellion, he en- listed in Company A, of the Forty-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry, and remained with that company fifteen months. He then received a commission as First Lieutenant of Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York Volunteers, and was soon afterward promoted to the rank of Captain and remained with his com- pany, participating in all of its engagements until the close of the war, when he was honor- ably mustered out of the service. He then re- turned home and from that time until 1871 clerked in his father's store, and during four years of the time held the position of Post-

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master. He then came to Colorado, and after clerking in a store at Black Hawk, Gilpin County, one year, removed to Colorado Springs, where he has since resided, being engaged in clerking for different firms until December, 1880, when he, in company with J. H. Thedinga, succeeded S. Sessler in the grocery business. Capt. Conant was married in October, 1870, to Miss Etta C. Downs, of Huntington, N. Y., and has one daughter.

HARVEY CLEMENT. 3

Mr. Clement, of the well-known contracting firm of Clement & Russell, and the proprietors of the marble works on Nevada avenue, Colo- rado Springs, was born in Union County, Ohio, July 15, 1848. He is of English and Welsh descent. His early life was spent in attending the public schools and the high school of Marysville, Ohio. In 1865, he removed with his parents to Ottawa, Kan., where he com- pleted his education at the Ottawa College, in his twentieth year. He subsequently worked on his father's fruit farm three years. In the spring of 1872, he began an apprenticeship at the stone-cutting trade. The following spring he came to Colorado Springs and continued to work at his trade, until completing it in 1875. He then formed a partnership with his brother- in-law, D. A. Russell, and began contracting, and in January, 1880, established the marble works, which they have since carried on in connection with contracting. Mr. Clement was married in the fall of 1871 to Miss Arabella Russell, of London, Kan., and has a family of two children, a son and a daughter.

NATHAN S. CULVER, M. D.

Dr. Culver was born in Milton, Rock County, Wis., May 1, 1842. He attended the public schools until sixteen years of age, then entered Milton Academy, where he remained until the breaking-out of the war of the rebellion in 1861. He then enlisted in the Randall Guards of the Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and after serving a short time was called home, owing to the serious illness of his father, and there remained one year in charge of the paternal farm. He then determined to adopt the medical profession, and went to Milwaukee, Wis., where he began to apply himself studions- ly to reading medicine, Dr. R. W. Hathaway being his preceptor. After remaining in that

city four years, engaged in the study and prac- tice of medicine, he entered the Pennsylvania University in Philadelphia, from which he graduated and received the degree of M. D. in the spring of 1866. He then went to Roches- ter, Minn., where he resumed and continued practice six years, and in connection therewith established a large wholesale and retail drug- store. In 1873, owing to overwork and bron- chial troubles, he closed up his business and came to Colorado, located in Colorado Springs, and gave his attention to the mining business until 1878. Dr. Culver is prominently identified with the mining interests of Colorado. He is one of the principal owners of the Osceola Mine at Sunshine, Boulder County ; President of the Culver Mining Company, operating in Ouray County ; Vice President of the Silver Wing Mining & Reduction Company of La Plata County ; the originator and one of the Directors of the Little Willie Mining Company of Gunnison County, and owns various other interests. When Colorado Springs was incor- porated as a city, he was elected Alderman of the First Ward, and subsequently served as Treasurer of the School Board. In the fall of 1878, he was elected State Treasurer. Owing to failing health, he could not stand confine- ment in the office, and appointed his brother George his Deputy. to take charge of the active work. During his term, he ably and efficiently conducted the business of the office by personal and written instructions, which were faithfully carried out by his trustworthy Deputy. Since his residence in this city, Dr. Culver has always been distinguished for his public spirit. He is a good financier and bears an untarnished repu- tation. He has always been an earnest, hard- working Republican, and deserves well of his party.

MAJ. H. H. DE MARY.

This gentleman ranks among the oldest pioneers of Colorado, coming here as he did in 1859. He was born in Genesee County, N. Y., December 4, 1814. His parents were farmers, and he remained with them until he was twenty years old, working on the farm summers and attending district school winters. He was then given his time and started life for himself by chopping cord-wood for 25 cents per cord. At the age of twenty-two, he went to work on the Tonawanda Railroad, as foreman of a construc- tion train, at $1.25 per day ; was thus engaged

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eighteen months. He was afterward proprietor of a butcher-shop in Westchester for two years. In 1840, he engaged to travel for the Zoological Company and Sand's American Circus; was with them four years, two of which they spent in Europe. From 1844 to 1847, he conducted his father's farm, and during this time was married to Mrs. Jane Raworth. He has one daughter, who is married and lives in Chicago, Ill. The next five years of his life he spent working on the railroad as contractor. In 1852, he went to Chicago, where he remained until he came to Colorado. While there he was Con- stable two years and Justice of the Peace three years. The first year in Colorado he spent in mining and then sold out for $10,000. In 1860, he went back to Chicago, to vote for Lincoln, and engaged in the flour and feed business. But his taste for Western life was so strong, he sold out in 1861, and came back to Colorado. During the early part of the war of the re- bellion, he was Assistant Major General of the State Militia. Summoned to appear in Denver on his way to the latter place, he fell in with a band of jay-hawkers, commanded by a man by the name of Reynolds, who had been driven out of Fairplay only a short time before. They captured the Major and his party, took them to a house and placed them under guard. The same afternoon they captured and robbed the mail-coach and disabled it by cutting out the spokes of the wheels, and placed all under oath not to leave until sunrise the following morning. The robbers took $120 from De Mary, and one exchanged hats with him. The hat the robber left was a curiosity, and the Major was obliged to wear it to Denver, where he had to introduce himself to his most intimate friends. The fol- lowing morning, by early dawn, the Major was out giving the alarm, and a short time after the whole gang were surprised by a party of pursuers from Gouge Eye Gulch who had been notified of their depredations, and all were killed but one. The robbers, a party of nine, were men from the border of Arkansas and Texas. They had come to Colorado for the purpose of obtaining recruits to form a com- pany sufficiently strong to rob the banks in Denver. In 1862, Maj. De Mary was appoint- ed Provost Marshal for Park County ; held this position for eleven months. He then went to California Gulch and engaged in placer mining. He was County Commissioner for Lake County

for three years. He was in the Council for Lake County for two years. He was appointed by Gov. Evans Major General of the Militia. In 1879, he went on to a cattle ranch, twenty miles north of Canon City, where he still lives.

DANIEL DURKEE.

Daniel Durkee, proprietor of the drug store on the corner of Tejon and Huerfano streets, Colorado Springs, was born in South Royalton, Vermont, September 1, 1852. He completed his education at the Royalton Academy at the age of seventeen. He then served three years in a drug store at Windsor, Vt., and subse- quently had charge of a drug store two years at Lebanon, N. H. He then went to Indian- apolis, Ind., where he held the position of book- keeper for Fairbanks Scale Company two years, after which he engaged in the drug business in that city. In the fall of 1879, he came to Colorado and located in Colorado Springs and opened a drug store, in which business he is still engaged. During the fall of 1880, he be- came one of the stockholders and was elected a Director of the East Leadville Town Site and Reduction and Smelting Works Company, of which he is at present Vice President. Mr. Durkee was married in May, 1880, to Miss Anna Downs, of Lebanon, N. H.

GEORGE DE LA VERGNE.

This gentleman is, as his name implies, of French descent, and was born in Marietta, Ohio, August 9, 1837. At an early age he, with his parents, removed to Cumberland County, Tenn., where he spent the first years of his life, and by his own efforts acquired an education. At the age of nineteen, he went to Seneca, Kan., where he remained two years, but at the expira- tion of that time he returned to Tennessee, where he arrived just in time to cast his vote against the secession of that State, having had to go to the polls armed. The alarming situa- tion, however, compelled him to leave that State, and he proceeded to Brooklyn, N. Y., and when the war of the rebellion was finally de- clared, he enlisted in the Forty-Seventh Brook- lyn Infantry, who volunteered for the three months' service. He was promoted through the non-commissioned offices, and subsequently, upon the advice of his officers, and the recom- mendations of Gov. Brownell, he went to Ken- tucky, and formed a regiment of Tennessee

John Law M.d.

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refugees, known as the Eighth Tennessee Vol- unteer Infantry. After serving in the subor- dinate offices, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Third Division of the Twenty- third Army Corps, under command of Gen. Hartsuff, at that time doing service in East Tennessee. At the battle of Lost Mountain, he was overcome by fatigue and concussion, and was sent to the hospital at Lookont Mount- ain, and subsequently to Cincinnati, Ohio. After partially recovering, not being able for field service, he was detailed on special duty under Gen. Hooker, at Cincinnati, and sub- sequently was sent to Detroit, Mich., under command of Gen. Ord, where, at the close of the rebellion, he was honorably mustered out of service. After peace was declared, he engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods at Chattanooga, Tenn., in which he was engaged until 1867, when he closed out his business. He then removed to Clinton, Mo., where he was engaged in the mercantile business until 1873, when he sold out his interests and accepted the joint-position of Secretary and Treasurer of a wholesale nursery in that county. In 1876, owing to his wife's ill health, he resigned his position, and, with his family, made a jour- ney to the Sandwich Islands, where he remained during that winter, and returned to Missouri in the spring, but did not remain there long. He then emigrated to Colorado, and has found this climate to be very benefical to his wife's health. Upon his arrival here, he bought Rigg's ranch, one mile south of Colorado Springs, and since that time has been engaged in ranch- ing, stock-raising and the culture of fish, having a splendid fish-pond with facilities for hatching. He is also largely connected with the mining interests in Gunnison County, being the Vice President of the Silver Mountain Mining Com- pany.

Mr. De La Vergne is a member of the Board of Trustees, and one of the Executive Committee of the Colorado College. He is prominently identified with the Presbyterian Church of this city, being its Ruling Elder, and has been the Superintendent of its Sunday School for the past three years. He is also a friend and strict adherer to the temperance cause. He was married at Nashville, Tenn., January 2, 1867, to Miss Emily Rice, daughter of Will- iam H. Rice, missionary to the Sandwich Islands, and has two sons.

ANDREW J. DOWNING.

This gentleman, a hardware merchant of Col- orado Springs, was born in Steuben County, Ind., September 21, 1851. His early life was spent on a farm and in acquiring an education, which he completed in the High School of Quincy, Mich., at the age of eighteen. In 1870, he came to Colorado, and during the succeeding six years worked at the carpenter's trade in various parts of the State. In 1876, he located in Colorado Springs and embarked in the butchering business. In February, 1880, he opened a hardware, stove and tinware store on Huerfano street, in which business he has since been successfully engaged. Mr. Downing was married, in 1874, to Miss Louisa Melvin, and has one daughter.

F. E. DOW.

Mr. Dow, the well known ready-made cloth- ing merchant in Colorado Springs, was born in Erie County, N. Y., June 10, 1845. At an early age, he removed with his parents to De Kalb County, Ill., where he attended public school until his eighteenth year; then spent one year at Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale, Mich. In February, 1865, be enlisted in Com- pany F, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until February, 1866, his regiment having been de- tailed on guard duty after the close of the re- bellion. After being honorably mustered out of the service, he went to Chicago, Ill., and entered Eastman's Business College, from which he graduated that year. From there he went to Courtland, Ill., and embarked in the drug business, continuing the same until June, 1868. He then sold out, and went to Olathe, Kan., and engaged in the clothing business, in com- pany with his brother, J. H. Dow. In 1873, owing to failing health, he came to Colorado, and after spending three months traveling over the State, located in Colorado Springs, where he has since resided. In the fall of 1877, he opened a clothing store on Tejon street, and, through perseverance and close attention to business, is building up a good trade. During the past year, Mr. Dow has erected a fine resi- dence on North Tejon street, where he now resides, with pleasant and comfortable surround- ings. In the spring of 1876, he was elected to the joint office of Clerk and Treasurer of Col- orado Springs, and at the expiration of his term of two years was re-elected ; but, owing to the

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pressure of private business, resigned the Clerk- ship, and continued to serve as Treasurer two years longer, having discharged his duties with ability, and with credit to himself and the city. Mr. Dow was married to Miss Helen E. Hayden, of Sycamore, Ill., in 1867, and has a family of three daughters.

DAVID DE GRAFF.

Mr. De Graff, who, during the past ten years has been prominently identified with the stock- growing interests of El Paso County, was born in Ulster County, N. Y., in February, 1826. He remained at home on his father's .farm until fourteen years of age, then followed boating on North River three years. He subsequently served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, at which he worked eight years. In the fall of 1851, he went to California via the Nicaragua route and worked at his trade six years in San Francisco, and during the succeeding seven years followed mining in Trinity County. In 1864, he returned to Ulster County, N. Y., and bought a farm and was engaged in agricultural pursuits six years. In 1871, he came to Colo- rado and bought a stock ranch of 160 acres in El Paso County, eight miles southeast of Colorado Springs, and engaged in stock-raising. In 1873, he returned East and brought his fam- ily out. He has since purchased additional lands, until he now owns 10,000 acres, all under fence, 250 of it being agricultural land, and at present has a herd of 5,700 sheep and over 300 cattle. Mr. De Graff was married in the fall of 1866, to Miss Emma Varse, of Sullivan, N. Y., and has two daughters.

CAPT. M. L. DECOURSEY.

Capt. DeCoursey, a real estate and insurance agent in Colorado Springs, was born in Phila- delphia, Penn., February 12, 1842. He received his education in the public schools of that city, graduating from the high school at the age of sixteen. He then entered the employ of Alfred Slade & Co., dry goods commission merchants, with whom he remained until 1861; then en- listed in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, under command of Gen. William J. Palmer, now President of the D. & R. G. R. R. Co., by whom he was promoted to the rank of Captain, in which capacity he served until 1863, when he was appointed Chief Clerk in the Provost Mar- shal General's office of the United States, at

Washington, and Confidential Clerk to Gen. James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General of the United States. After the close of the rebellion, he entered the service of Jay Cooke, as travel- ing agent, and assisted him in placing his 7-30 bonds on the financial market. He was em- ployed in this capacity six months ; then em- barked in the dry goods commission business in Philadelphia, being the junior partner of the firm of Hamilton, Evans & DeCoursey. In 1871, he closed up his business and came to Colorado. Subsequently, he aided Gen. Palmer in organizing the National Land & Improve- ment and the Colorado Springs Companies, of which he became first Secretary and Treasurer. In 1876, he resigned his positions in Colorado, and returned East, accepting the position of Chief Clerk under the Passenger Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Harrisburg, Penn., with whom he was employed until 1880. He then returned to Colorado, and located at Colo- rado Springs, where he has since resided, en- gaged in the real estate and insurance business. Capt. DeCoursey was married, in 1868, to Miss Mary A. Stovell, of Philadelphia, Penn., and has a family of four children.

S. DAVIS, D. D. S.

Dr. Davis was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., November 20, 1839. He received his early education at Richmond, Ohio. In 1861, on the breaking-out of the war of the rebellion, he enlisted in the Second Ohio Volunteer In- fantry and served two years. He then deter- mined to adopt the' profession of dentistry, and began study, Prof. G. T. Barker being his pre- ceptor. He subsequently practiced in Center- ville, Penn., a number of years. In 1870, he entered the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery at Philadelphia, from which he gradu- ated and received the degree of D. D. S. in the spring of 1871, his number of years of practice being equivalent to one course of lectures. He then located in Parker City, Penn., where he practiced dentistry until be was burned out in 1878, when he came to Colorado, located in Colorado Springs, where he has since been actively engaged in the prac- tice of his profession.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 60

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