History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 70

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL:

Colorado and located on Cache Creek; he re- turned home again, and in 1861 he returned to Colorado with a stock of goods, and took them to California Gulch to supply the min- ers; later on, he went to Montana, where he spent four years; in 1867, he returned to Mis- souri, and soon after back to Colorado, locat- ing at Granite, in what is now Chaffee County, then Lake; here he has resided since; he has been Deputy County Clerk six years, Deputy County Treasurer six years, Deputy Sheriff four years, holding three different positions at the same time; in October, 1879, he was elected County Clerk and Recorder. Mr. Johnston was married, in 1858, to Lydia A. Jackston, but death took her from him in the fall of 1860; he remained a widower till Au- gust, 1880, when he married Mrs. Maggie D. Litts. Mr. Johnston is a man highly respected, and is looked upon as one of the leading citi- zens of Chaffee County.

JOHN T. KEEGAN.

John T. Keegan was born in New Haven, Conn., September 22, 1856. He attended the public schools, and, later, St. John's College, Fordham, N. Y .; he also took a military course of instruction under Col. Russell, of New Haven; he served four years in the Connecti- cut State Militia. In 1876, he came to Colo- rado, in Chaffee County, where Maysville now stands; then it was a wilderness; he was one of the founders of the city, and served upon the first Board of Trustees; he is engaged in mining and real estate business, and is con- sidered one of the substantial young business men of the city.

JAMES F. KELLY.

James F. Kelly was born in Mount Savage, Md., in 1845. After receiving a good com- mon-school education, he, at the age of twenty- one years, went into the grocery business at Pittsburgh, Penn. In 1864, he went to Mon- tana, and was mining till 1869, when he re- turned to Pittsburgh, Penn., and again went into the grocery business. In 1875, he went to the Black Hills and was among the first there. In 1877, he came to Leadville, and in 1878, he was in Silver Cliff. In 1879, he was one of the first to locate where Maysville is

now; he helped to organize the town, and was the first Clerk and Recorder; he is also Town Agent, appointed by the Trustees, for the disposal of town lots; he does a general real estate and miners' broker business.

STEPHEN B. KELLOGG.

Prominent among the old pioneers who em- igrated to Colorado in 1859 is the name of Stephen B. Kellogg. He was born in Brook- field, Orange Co., Vt., December 16, 1816; he was educated in the common schools and the academy at Williston, Vt .; in 1835, he re- moved with his parents to Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of twenty-one years, he went around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, South America, returning to Cleveland in the spring of 1839. In 1841, he was married to Miss Abbie L. Pierce. In 1850, he crossed the plains to California, and remained there min- ing for three years, after which he returned to Chagrin Falls, near Cleveland, Ohio, and was engaged in merchandising till 1856; he then went to New York City, and for the next three years was salesman for the hardware house of Howard, Clark & Co. May 12, 1859, he arrived in Denver, and spent the summer mining in Russel's Gulch. In March, 1860, he, with others, went on to Chalk Creek, in what is now Chaffee County, and commenced the first mining ever done in that section. In the fall of 1863, he moved to Denver, and was in various kinds of business there till 1867; he then went to Granite, and resided there till 1870, when he moved to Colorado City. In 1871, he took up 160 acres of land near Manitou Springs, in the Ute Pass, and built a hotel, which he kept till 1875; he then went to Lake City and engaged in mining; was also Police Justice two years; later on, he moved to Buena Vista, where he is now en- gaged in mining. In 1859, he was a member of the Provincial Legislature from Clear Creek County; he has held, at different times since, several official positions.

GUSTAV KRAUSE.

This gentleman was born in Germany May 13, 1854. He received a good education. In 1873, he came to America and spent one year in Massachusetts in learning the English lan-

THE RORERT E LER. MINE

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guage; he then went to New York City and spent two years and a half in a large import- ing house as clerk; from there he went back to Europe on a visit; on his return to Amer- ica, he came directly to Colorado and located in tho San Luis Valley; subsequently, he was engaged as book-keeper at Fort Garland and Alamosa, and, later on, he was book-keeper for Solaman Bros., in Denver. In 1879, he came to Buena Vista, Chaffee Co., and en- gaged in the grocery business under the firm name of Krause & Rollandet; they first started in a tent, but they have now a nice store, and are considered the pioneer merchants of that flourishing town.

IRA KING.

Mr. King, one of Chaffee County's success- ful farmers, was born in Greene County, Penn., April 2, 1830. When he was two years of age, his parents removed to Monroe County, Ohio; his father died when he was fourteen years of age, and he stayed at home on the farm with his mother till the age of twenty-two, after which he was farming in Iowa and Missouri till 1864, when he emi- grated to Colorado; he built the first house at Dayton Twin Lakes, and was engaged in min- ing and dairying; later on, he bought a ranch on the South Fork of the Arkansas River, near Poncha; he has a beautiful farm of 480 acres, nicely improved, and has all the com- forts around him that one finds in the older States. Mr. King is highly respected, and, for honesty and integrity, no one in Chaffee County stands higher.

F. F. LANKINS.

Mr. Lankins, the genial proprietor of the Commercial Hotel at St. Elmo, was born in Canada January 24, 1834. At the age of ten years, he removed with his parents to Wiscon- sin; he remained at home upon the farm until twenty-one years of age, and then engaged in the saw-mill business for one year, after which he went to Freeport, Iowa, and engaged in hotel business; when the war broke out, he enlisted in the Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served during the war, after which he was eagaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Nebraska for three years. In 1878, he came to Denver, Colo., and opened the

Filby House, and later on was proprietor of the Lawrence House. When St. Elmo started, he went there and built the hotel, which he still runs to the perfect satisfaction of his guests. He was married, in 1857, to Caro- line E. Prichard, of Lansing, Iowa.

COL. HENRY LOGAN.

The subject of this sketch was born in Whitehaven, England, December 20, 1824. Early in life, he was apprenticed to the car- riage-making business. When sixteen years old, he was a member of the Chartist Associa- tion in England, organized for the purpose of forming a republic; he took an active part in the Chartist insurrection, and, to save him- self from royal vengeance, he hastily left for the United States, and engaged in the car- riage business in Lockport and Joliet, Ill. In 1852, he was married to Miss Eliza Snoad, the Pincipal of the school at Joliet; the fruit of the marriage was six children, two only of whom are now living. In 1854, he engaged in the book business at that place, and con- tinued until 1857, when he was elected Justice of the Peace of the city of Joliet, Ill .; while holding this position, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1860 was elected District Attorney for the Eleventh Judicial District of Illinois, which office he held, giv- ing great satisfaction, until the latter part of 1863, when he resigned, raised a company of 100 men, and entered the Sixty-fourth Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry as Captain; was se- verely wounded at the battle of Dallas, Ga .; while still suffering from his wounds, was Provost Marshal of Chattanooga, Tenn., under Gen. Meagher; although an invalid from wounds and sickness, he still persisted in re- maining in the service until the end of the war; he was promoted Major of his regiment, and, at the request of his commanding Gen- eral, was brevetted Colonel for gallant and meritorious services. In 1865, he was elected County Clerk of Will County, Ill., which office he held until 1870, when, on account of poor health, he moved to Salina, Kan. In 1872, he was elected County Judge of Saline County, Kan., which office he held until the fall of 1874, when he resigned and returned to Joliet, Ill., where he resumed the profession

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of law. In November, 1876, on account of failing health, he again reluctantly bade adieu to the scenes of his early manhood, and moved to Boulder, Colo., where he engaged in the practice of his profession until April, 1880, when he moved to Leadville, but, in a few months, was compelled, by failing health, to leave the Carbonate City, and in July located in Denver; in March, 1881, he followed his son, editor of the Buena Vista Herald, to Buena Vista, where he is now practicing law in partnership with Judge V. C. Gunnell; he is quite a politician, having been on the stump in six Presidential campaigns; in politics, he is a Republican, and an ardent friend of woman suffrage and' kindred reforms. In April, 1881, he was appointed Assistant Dis- trict Attorney for Chaffee County by the County Commissioners, which position he now holds.

W. R. LOGAN.

W. R. Logan was born January 9, 1860, in Joliet, Ill., his father, Col. H. Logan, then being one of the prominent lawyers of that place. From the early age of thirteen years, he has been more or less engaged in the news- paper business. While attending school, he learned the art typographic; at the early age of fourteen, he graduated from Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, Chicago; at the age of fifteen, he graduated from the Beloit College, Wisconsin; in 1875, he had charge of a pub- ishing house in Illinois, superintending the publishing of six different newspapers; in 1876, he moved, to Salina, Kan., and took editorial charge of the Farmer's Advocate; in 1877, he engaged at the latter place in the real estate, abstract and insurance business, where, in a few years, by a strict attention to business, he accumulated quite a snug little fortune, and lost it all in his attempt to save a friend. In 1880, he moved to Colorado and studied law with his father in Denver. Pre- ferring the newspaper business to that of law, in January, 1881, he became a joint-proprie- tor of the Chaffee County Times, but severed his connection with that paper a few months later; he is one of the founders of the Buena Vista Herald, and is now joint-proprietor of that paper; associated with him is A. R. Ken- nedy, an old newspaper man of many years'

experience; he commenced in the newspaper business when he was thirteen years old, and is familiar with it in all its branches; in pol- itics, he is a stalwart Republican. If he would cultivate the art of oratory, he would make his mark; he has repeatedly, at college and elsewhere, taken premiums offered for best discourses and addresses.

ALMON C. LIBBY.

Almon C. Libby was born at Brunswick, Me., December 24, 1848. When sixteen years of age, he began to learn the machinist's trade, which he followed at Biddeford and Lewis- ton, Me., and Worcester, Mass .; he graduated at Bates College, Lewiston, Me., in 1873, and at the time of graduation, was Chief Engineer of West Amesbury Branch Railroad; was afterward one of the engineers employed in building the Lowell & Andover Railroad, and was afterward the Resident Engineer on the construction of the Lewiston Water Works, on the completion of which, in 1879, he came to Colorado, where he has since resided; was first engaged as a civil engineer on the Den- ver, South Park & Pacific Railroad, and since has followed the business of United States Deputy Mining Surveyor, with headquarters at Buena Vista.

CHARLES S. LIBBY.

Charles S. Libby, attorney at law, was born in Kittery, Me., November 2, 1854. When fifteen years of age, he became a student in Maine State Seminary and Nichols Latin School, remaining for three years, and, four years later, graduated from Bates College, Lewiston; in May, 1877, he began reading law in Lewiston, Me., and was admitted to the bar in June, 1879; he continued in the practice of his profession there until March, 1880, when he came to Colorado and located in Buena Vista, where he has since been en- gaged in practicing law, holding the office of City Attorney since April, 1881.

PERCY A. LEONARD. -

Percy Allen Leonard was born in Louis- ville, Ky., May 2, 1848, and received a good common-school education and excellent pri- vate tuition up to the age of twelve, when he

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entered Masonic College, La Grange, Ky., in the Junior class. A year later, the breaking- out of the great rebellion closed the college and scattered the class; he then went to Louis- ville, Ky., and remained a year in the whole- sale dry goods house of James Trabue & Co. as assistant bill clerk; then, receiving an offer of a better salary, the entered the Clerk's office of the United States District Court, under A. J. Ballard, then Clerk; he afterward entered the Chancery Court Clerk's office as Chief Deputy; after remaining in this position over a year, he was induced to go to Chicago by his father, Dr. O. L. Leonard, who was a refugee from the South on account of his strong Union principles, who had been living in Chicago since the latter part of 1861. On arriving at Chicago, he was appointed to a position in the Chicago Post Office, in Febru- ary, 1864, and commenced to read lawin day- time and work in the post office at night; finding that failing health would not permit the double burden on his physical system, and his father dying within a few weeks after his arrival, he abandoned temporarily the idea of becoming a lawyer, not exactly knowing, in his youth and inexperience, the best course to pursue, being overwhelmed with grief. The family consisted, at that time, of himself and two sisters, his mother having died many years before; one of the sisters, now Mrs. Agnes Leonard Hill, was at that time engaged editorially on the Chicago Times, and the joint earnings of the two supported the family, in addition to a small income derived from the rental of some property left by Dr. Leonard at his death; as that was incumbered, and repairs, insurance and taxes accumulated, the subject of this sketch felt the necessity of remaining in Government employ to secure a regular salary, rather than follow the uncer- tain emoluments of a young lawyer's ambi- tion. About this time, the railway postal system was introduced into the United States by Col. George B. Armstrong, to whom a monument has been lately erected in Chicago in recognition of his reform of the Government postal system, and Mr. Leonard enjoys the distinction of having been the first railway postal clerk appointed in the United States, being detailed from the distributing depart-

ment of the Chicago Post Office. In Septem- ber, 1864, he made the run on the Northwest- ern road-at that time called the Dixon Air Line-to' Clinton, Iowa; he was afterward transferred to the Rock Island road, where he remained for nearly five years, and went back into the Chicago Post Office, in the money order department. About this time, he began to write for publication, being the Chicago correspondent for several outside papers, in- cluding the New Orleans Times, Davenport Gazette, and others. In September, 1869, he was married to Miss Ida Crittenden, of New York, who was living in Chicago at the time. When the great fire of October 9, 1871, de- vastated Chicago, he had charge of the foreign money order window of the post office, and, after remaining long enough to assist in get- ting matters straightened out of the confu- sion incident to the fire, he was induced, by failing health and a business offer, to come to Colorado in January, 1872; he went to Golden and took charge of the commissary depart- ment of the construction company at that time building the railroad to Black Hawk, and was also time-keeper for the company. When the road was completed to a point three miles below Black Hawk, he accepted the position of assistant book-keeper in the office of E. D. Root, at that time Cashier of the company; he remained in railroad and express business for several years, and went to mining in Boulder County, in which, not having money enough to follow the uncertainties of the treacherous tellurium veins, he was unsuccessful, and began special work for the Denver newspapers, at a stated price, having been a gratuitous contributor for some years; about the same time, he was employed to assist in editorial work on the Boulder County Courier, a news- paper just started, and then owned by W. G. Shedd, now of, Leadville, who had formerly conducted the Sunshine Courier, which was re- moved by him to Boulder, and the name changed; so great was the success of the new venture that one of the proprietors of the op- position paper, the Boulder News, sold his in- terest to Mr. Shedd, and the two papers were consolidated, under the name of the Boulder News and Courier, in November, 1878, when Mr. Leonard was employed as editorial writer,

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doing the entire mining editorial and local work on the paper from December, 1878, until October, 1879, when he went to Lead- ville, and soon after to Buena Vista, estab- lishing, with a partner, the Chaffee County Times, in February, 1880, at that time the only paper published in the territory now comprised in Chaffee, Gunnison and Pitkin Counties; he has been very successful in get- ting a wide circulation for the Times, which is now recognized as a reliable mining jour- nal, and the leading paper of the section. From July, 1880, until April, 1881, Mrs. Agnes Leonard Hill, the accomplished and tal- ented journalist, as associate editor, gave the Times a reputation all over Colorado, and por- tions of the Eastern States, as a sparkling, ably edited journal. Being called back to Chicago, which is her home, by ill health, she severed active connection with the paper, though acting as editorial correspondent; she continues to contribute lively sketches of her impressions of Colorado. The chief boast of Mr. Leonard is that, in spite of great opposi- tion from bunko men, gamblers and a law- less element which made Buena Vista their headquarters, he set a standard of decency in the Times, which a gradual improvement in the tone of public opinion fully indorses, and recognizes as a valuable ally in the rescue of the town from the domination of the bad ele- ment, and renders it a desirable residence point. where law, order and decency are held pre-eminent.

GEORGE LEONHARDY.

Among the old-timers who came to Colorado in an early day, and have been closely identi- fied with its mining and agricultural interests since, appears the name of George Leonhardy. He was born in Switzerland March 15, 1835; he graduated from college in 1851, and in 1852 he came to America, and spent two years in school to familiarize himself with the En- glish language, after which he was engaged in contracting, handling railroad ties, etc., till the spring of 1863, when he came to Colorado and went at once to California Gulch; there he remained two years engaged in mining, after which he went to Twin Lakes, Lake Co., and, later on, to Granite, where he was min-

ing for seven years; he then moved onto a ranch at Riverside, Chaffee Co., where he has. since resided, carrying on farming, and also handling mining timber and burning charcoal very extensively; he is also partner in the hardware store of Ludwig & Co., Buena Vista; he was Clerk of the District Court of Lake County for six years; was Sheriff of the same county in 1864 and 1865; was United States Assessor from 1865 to 1870, and was County Commissioner in 1866 and 1867; he stands very high in Chaffee County as a man of ster- ling integrity.

CHARLES J. LYDON.

Mr. Lydon was born in Pennsylvania, June 3, 1844. After he was eighteen years of age, he worked in the mines and saved money to take a full course in Critten- den's Commercial College, Philadelphia; after graduating, he went into the grocery business at Ashley, Penn .; after about one year, he sold out and went to Chicago and engaged in bottling business with James Block, under the firm name of Lydon & Block, for one year; the same firm then returned to Ashley, Penn., and was in the livery business five years; he then went to Missouri and was book-keeper for the Chicago & Alton Railroad for five months. He then came to Colorado, in April, 1879, and located at Alpine; here he engaged in mining until June, 1881, when he bought out the hardware store of Campbell & Co. He was married, in 1869, to Miss Eveline Hoyt, of Wilkesbarre, Penn.

JOSEPH E. MCCLURE.

Joseph E. McClure, the Postmaster at Al pine, Chaffee Co., was born in Missouri De- cember 15, 1842; he received a good common- school education; at the age of nineteen, he went into the mercantile business at Laclede, Mo .; he remained in this business four years, after which he was farming for four years, and, later on, was in the mercantile business at Keokuk, Iowa, till 1875, when he came to Colorado and located on Chalk Creek, and started a general store there; he was ap- pointed Postmaster in 1876, and, although a Democrat, still holds the office, with the ap- proval of all the people; he was one of the

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CHAFFEE COUNTY.

founders of the town of Alpine, and was Trustee for two years. He was married, in 1864, to Miss Jennie C. Bostwick, of Glasgow, Mo .; he has been mining for five years, and has been very successful.

CHARLES A. MONTROSS.

One of the self-made men and influential citizens of Chaffee County is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Westchester County, N. Y., January 16, 1818; his father died when he was seven years of age, and ever after he had to depend very largely upon his own efforts; at the age of fifteen, he was bound out as a tailor's apprentice for six years, but, this proving distasteful to him, at the end of three years he severed this connec- tion, and, going to Buffalo, N. Y., clerked in clothing store for the next two years; return- ing to his native town, he worked at his trade for two years; after he was twenty years of age, he attended Mount Pleasant Academy for two winters, working at his trade during the summers to pay his way. In 1843, he com- menced traveling for Dr. Brandreth, and con- tinued in his employ two years. On the 31st of December, 1847, he was married to Martha F. Washburn, daughter of Oliver Washburn, of Sing Sing, N. Y. In 1849, he engaged in mercantile business in Columbus, Ohio, and, two years later, began his career as a rail- road man as conductor between Columbus and Cincinnati; in 1853, he removed with his family to Illinois, locating at Centralia, and for a number of years was employed as con- ductor on the Illinois Central Railroad. On the breaking-out of the rebellion, he entered the army as Sutler of the Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was after- ward in the employ of the Treasury Depart- ment as Assistant Special Agent, and had charge of all the abandoned goods and lands at Vicksburg. In 1866, he located in Alton, Ill., where he was engaged in railroading and lumbering till January, 1879, when he came to Colorado and contracted along the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad, and, in June, 1879, located at Buena Vista, Chaffee Co., where he engaged in contracting, merchan- dising, etc. He was elected County Com- missioner for Chaffee County in November,

1880. Mr. Montross has always felt a deep interest in educational matters, being for sev- eral years a Director of Schools in Illinois, and in coming to Colorado he has not suffered this interest in popular education to diminish.

CHARLES A. McGILL.

Mr. McGill, the present proprietor of the Lake House, Buena Vista, was born in Pal- myra, Portage Co., Ohio, in the year 1831. Were his biography written in detail, it would make a book of varied and interesting advent- ure, partaking more of the nature of romance than of real life. Mr. McGill was educated in music at a very early age, and at twelve years of age executed the most difficult violin solos in public; he was a member of the first negro minstrel company who introduced har- mony in negro minstrelsy; this company was under the direction of Nelse Seymour, the composer of the old familiar song, "Ben Bolt." Mr. McGill quit the stage and de- voted his attention to railroading in its va- rious branches. At the age of twenty-eight, he married Irene, daughter of Dr. Ensign Benschoter, a prominent physician of Plym- outh, Ohio. After two years' service in the late war, he turned his attention to hotel- keeping generally till 1879, when he came to Colorado and occupied the position of ticket agent for the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad, at Leadville, Malta and Buena Vista, resigning that position to assume the proprietorship of the Lake House, which he raised from a very low ebb to general favor as a first-class house. Mr. McGill is quite largely interested in Chaffee County, and takes a deep interest in the prosperity of the city of Buena Vista.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 70

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