USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 56
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ALDEN, Horace, was born in Eaton, Canada, Feb. 2, 1816. He received a good business education, and at the age of nine years moved with his parents to St. Cloud, Minn., where he worked on a farm until 1861. The mines of Colorado then attracting his attention, he came to the Rocky Moun- tains, and here engaged in mining. After some experience in that pursuit be abandoned It, and became what is known as a "freight- er," that Is to say, be transported merchan- dise, etc., from one town to another. After some years in this occupation, in 1879 he lo- cated in Park county, near Garo, and bought , a ranch of 560 acres which he fenced andt otherwise improved by building. Like a number of other ranches in that county the most profitable erop is hay, of which he euts and markets hundreds of tons annually. He has a good residence, two or three miles of fencing and three miles of irrigating ditches: also several artificial lakes which are stocked with fish. In 1872 Mr. Alden married Miss D. l .. Turner, of Canada. In Der., 1859, he was appointed by Governor Cooper to fill a vacancy in the board of county commis- sioners of Park county, serving one year as chairman. He also represented Park county in the Sth General Assembly of the state.
AYERS, J. E., farmer, was born in Now Hampshire in 1838, graduated at Dartmouth college, and afterward became a teacher
tory department of the Western University. which position he held for three years. He was also a professor of Latin in the same in- stitution two years. Concluding his engage- ment with the Western University, he opened the Ayers Latin school, which was organized for the purpose of preparing boys for college. He continued his labors therein until his health became impaired, and in 1873 came to Colorado. Since then he has chiefly de- voted himself to agricultural pursuits, being the owner of the "Windfall Farm," located three miles west of Denver. lle is also the four hundred acres lying east of "Lookout Mountain Resort." He was chairman of the school board and during his term of office the first substantial school house in North Denver was erected. Ile was also one of the original trustees of Colorado college, and at the present time is chairman of the board of trustees of the South Broadway Congre- gational church.
ALFORD, W. B., farmer, one of the early settlers of Colorado, was born in New York in 1815. When fifteen years of age he moved to Vermont, when, after a residence of three years, he went to Canada. He became a con- tractor and builder, and spent the succeeding four years of his life in that country and one in Indiana, when he located in Illinois, where he lived fifteen years. He afterward resided nine years in lowa, and then came to Colorado, which has been his home to the present time. He is a farmer and greatly enjoys agricultural pursuits, which he has found to be congenial and profitable.
ALLEN, Eli, farmer, was born in Addison county, Vt., in 1820. His parents resided in that state until 1834, when they moved to Franklin county, N. Y. Here the young man lived, until he was twenty years of age, attending the public schools and assisting his father, then took up his abode in St. Law- rence county, where he entered the lumber business. After following this for six years. he traveled until 1860 then came to Colorado, went to Gilpin county and became interested in mining, but in 1861 he located on his pres- ent ranch at the town of Arvada, and has since been engaged in raising stock and grow- ing small fruits.
ALLEN, William M., farmer, came to Colorado among the pioneers of 1859, and was employed in mining, prospecting and freight- ing, in the "Pike's Peak country." He then settled upon a farm near the present town- site of Arvada in ISG3. llis efforts have been greatly prospered, and he is now the owner of some of the best improved farms in Jef- ferson county. They are well stocked with blooded horses and fine cattle. In addition
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to his improved property, he has 400 acres of ieles, by an inadvertenee not discovered by land adjoining the premises upon which Westminster college is located, only a few miles from Denver. He also owns a beanti- ful residence in Denver, and spends most of his time in looking after his real estate inter- ests in and out of the city. In 1865 he married Miriam C. Reno, and to them have been born
four children, Anna-Maud, wife of Ed. F. from public life-a minor influence upon the Ward, Laura-J., Charles-E., and Grace.
ANDERSON, Walter, was born in London, England in 1836, and is one of the soldiers who served in the Crimean war, in the Ist battalion rifle brigade of England. He was at the battles of Alma, Inkerman and the afforded, supplemented however by three siege of Sebastopol. He came to America in years attendance at private schools in Ohio 1870, stopped a short time at Houston and and private study and investigation. He Marshall, Texas, and also spent brief periods at Memphis, Tenuessee, at Louisville, Ken-
then struck out among the intricate chan- nels of life, beginning as a school teacher in tucky, Cincinnati and Chicago, and came to the state of Missouri for the wages it brought, Denver in 1875. He was engaged in the hotel business for about five years, then was employed in the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- way shops. In [1883 he became connected with the Broadway school, where he still re- mains an efficient employe.
ALTER, J. H., dairyman, was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., April 4th, 1854. He was educated there and remained until 1879, being a part of the time engaged in the oil business. During that year he came to Colorado, and settled in Weld county where he resided three years. He subsequently went further west, but after an absence from the state of three years, he returned and en- gaged in the dairy business in Denver, with A. G. Hazzard, with whom he is still associated.
ASMUSSEN, E. H., was born in Gelting, North Schleswig, Germany, May 18th, 1850, and remained there until 1870, receiving his education in the schools of that place. In the year last named, he migrated to America, first locating in Omaha. Two weeks later he entered the employ of the U. P. R. R. at Bushnell, remaining one year, after which he came to Denver and for the next three years was employed by Mr. Louis Miller; then until 1877 was engaged in the express business. In the latter year he returned to Germany, and after a visit of four months returned to his former vocation in Denver, continuing until 1879, then engaged in real estate and other enterprises, and accumulated much valuable property. He is a member of the German order called Plattdutsche Vereen.
the author until too late for correction, his name has been incorrectly spelled, with two t's. The correct orthography is set forth in the caption to this sketch. Mr. Bennet was in many respects the most conspicuous figure in our earlier territorial annals, and even now is by no means-though practically retired
closing decade of the century. In 1831 his family settled in Richland county, Ohio, where he attended country schools until 1839, when he removed with his parents to the "Platte Purchase" in northwestern Missouri, acquir- ing such education as they at that early date
and at the same time took up the study of law, toward which profession all his in- elinations turned. Making rapid progress, he was admitted to the bar in that state in 1851, and a year later removed to Western Iowa and then opened an office and entered into the practice. In 1834 he passed on to Nebraska eity. When Nebraska eame to the dignity of a territorial organization in that stormy session of congress which gave it free birth after a tremendous struggle with the slave holding power, Mr. Bennet was elect- ed to the upper house of its legislative as- sembly, and there aided in shaping its primary statutes and government. In 1855 he was nominated by the "free soil" element as its candidate for delegate to Congress, against Bird B. Chapman the democratic nominee. After the election he contested In Congress. Chapman's right to the seat, but was out voted. In 1858 he was elected again to the Nebraska legislature and was made speaker of the house for two sessions. In 1859 he em- igrated to the Pike's Peak region with the pioneers of that epoch, settled in Denver, opened an office and resumed the practice of law. In 1860 he formed a partnership with Moses Hallett, the firm being Bennet & Hal- lett. This was the most turbulent period in our history, There were no laws but the common law, no government which the law- less element felt bound to respect save that instituted by the vigilantes, or committee of safety. There were courts, but they were in confusion and acting without any but self- asserted provisional authority. The jurisdic- tion of Kansas had been rejected and Congress had not yet assumed control. The course of events has been related in our first volume, therefore need not be repeated here. In July 1861, the republicans convened at Golden City and nominated Mr. Bennet for the office of delegate in Congress, under the territorial organization of that year, against Beverley
BENNET, Hiram P., lawyer and pioneer, was born in Carthage, Maine, September 2. 1826. Much of the public career of this noted representative of young American manhood, as exemplified in Colorado, has been given in the first and second volumes of our history. It is now proper to state that in those chron- D. Williams, the democratic candidate, and
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he was elected by a considerable majority. gained almost wholly by his own earnings The year following he was re-elected, his from such employment as he could obtain, competitors on that occasion being ex-gov- and by constant laborious study. In April, ernor William Gilpin and colonel J. M. Fran-
1861, having completed his medical training cisco. After the expiration of his second in the schools, he began practicing in the term, he returned to Denver and re-engaged mining town of Blakely, Pa. But within the year he was to enter upon a wider field of action, one of vast seope and variety, the ghastly school which broadened his experi- ence, demanding the exercise of all his better talents, and bringing with it a knowledge of surgery in all its multifarious forms, of in legal practice. In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of Denver, by President Grant, holding the office until 1874 when he was sup- planted by D. A. Chever under circumstances related in volume ii., page 159. In 1876 he was elected from Arapahoe county to the senate of the 1st General Assembly of Col- sickness in almost every known variety, eov- orado. Early in the spring of 1860 a self- constituted committee composed of H. P. Bennet. A. (. Hunt and Richard Sopris, re- solved to frame a constitution and laws as the base of a municipal government for Den- ver. Mr. Bennet drafted the plan, and this committee submitted it to a publie meeting held in the old People's theater. The draft was read, and after discussion unanimously adopted. It provided for the subdivision of the town into three wards, with a council composed of two representatives from each ward, This fundamental law gave the city government power to levy taxes, repair streets and bridges, appoint a marshal, establish courts, etc., etc. At a later period the city council was organized with Capt. Richard Sopris president, with the functions of mayor. This government filled the need until the reg- ular organization of the territory in 1861 when a new charter was adopted by the legislature. Mr. Bennet filled so largea place in the earlier annals of our commonwealth as to render him one of the principal historte characters of the western frontier. He was a prominent figure in every important movement from the date of his arrival on the seene of his life- work until long after his retirement from the halls of Congress. lle has wrought con- temporaneously with the band of heroic workers who shaped the destinies of the cen- tennial state, and while he has not been re- warded with great wealth, has unquestion- ably won lasting fame. All who have fol- lowed the history of the state as presented in this and preceding volumes have en- countered the traces of his influence on many an eventful page. He is still practicing law in Denver and in good health and robust vigor.
ering many states, battlefields and hospitals, embracing in four years a practice which in time of peace, and in the ordinary course of events could not have been gained in fifty. Ile settled in Blakely in April, and in No- vember following entered the army as a surgeon, Shortly afterward he was detailed by the surgeon-general of the state to take charge of the "Church hospital" in Harris- burg, with the powers and duties of officer in command, a sudden promotion and one in- volving great responsibilities for a young graduate. Early in the spring of 1862 he was ordered to the 76th Pennsylvania Volunteers at Hilton Head. In May he was given medi- eal charge of the forces on Pinckney Island, Seabrook's and Elliott's plantations, N. C. In September following he was ordered to New York City in medical charge of portions of the 4th and 7th New Hampshire regiments which were infected with yellow fever; next he proceeded to Philadelphia as examining surgeon of reeruits, remaining until the spring of 1863, when he fitted up a hospital for Confederate prisoners at Fort Delaware. 'This work completed, he rejoined the 3d Pennsylvania artillery at Camp Hamilton, Va. In June, 1863, he was assigned to duty as post surgeon of Fortress Monroe, remain- ing until December, 1865, when the war har- ing ended he left the service. While at Fortress Monroe, Jefferson Davis, the cap- tive ex-president of the Southern Confed- eracy was brought there, but Dr. Baneroft being objected to because of his politics and Connecticut birth, another physician was de- tailed to attend the fallen chieftain. Just prior to the surrender of the rebel armies. the Doctor was, with two other officers, de- tailed to investigate the management of all military hospitals near Fortress Monroe, Re- turning to Philadelphia he attended a course of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania during the winter of 1865-66, and in June following located in Denver, resuming the practice of his profession. For several years he was surgeon of the Ben Holladay and Wells-Fargo stage lines, and later of the rail- ways which superseded them -the Denver
BANCROFT, Frederick Jones, physician, and surgeon, was born in Enfield, Conn., May 25, 1834. He is descended on the paternal side from the Bancrofts and Heaths of that state. and on the maternal from the Walcotts and Bissells, who were among the early settters of New England. He was educated at the Westfield (Mass.) academy and the Char- lotteville (N. Y.) seminary; studled medicine in the medieal department of the University of Buffalo, N. Y .. wheneo he graduated in Pacitic, Kansas Pacitie and the Rio Grande. February, 1861. Earnestly resolved to make Of the last named road he was chief surgeon a name and place for himself In the world, from 1571 until Iss7, and the result of his his education in these three Institutions was services are thus well summed up in an
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article on "Railway medical service" in the BROADWELL, James M., ranchman, was born in Illinois in 1827, and educated in the common schools of his native county. He remained there until 1847, then moved to New Mexico, locating at Santa Fé during that year. The following year he went to Las Vegas, and opened the pioneer blacksmith shopinthattown. Soon afterward he engaged in mercantile pursuits, continuing until 1859. During that year, the excitement caused by the discovery of gold in Colorado induced him to come to Denver, where he resumed the mercantile business. He built the Broad- well House, the first hotel and the first frame house that was erected in that city, which he owned until 1880. In 1872-73, he began raising thoroughbred horses, and is engaged in that pursuit at the present time. During the administrations of Mayors Case, Cook and Bates, be was an alderman, and a por- "American Railroad Journal:" "The chief surgeon, Dr. F. J. Bancroft, by whose zeal and executive ability the medical service of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad is ren- dered, is, in my judgment, the most efficient in the United States." He was elected presi- dent of the Denver medical society in 1876; was a member of the American medical asso- ciation; a vice-president of the National association of railway surgeons; June, 1868 to 1885, was examining surgeon of pensions: served as city physician of Denver from 1872 to 1877, and again in 1878-79; was first presi- dent of the state board of health, and served in that capacity for two years, being secre- tary of the same for one year; he has been a member of the faculty of the Medical col- lege of the Denver University from its open- ing to the present time. In connection with his other extensive duties, he was made tion of the time acting mayor of the city of medical referee and examiner in Colorado, Denver. He was also the coroner at the time the Indians killed the Hungate family in 1864. lle has always taken profound in- terest in the welfare of the community where he has so long resided. for many of the large life insurance com- panies of the United States, From 1875 to 1887 he was president of the Agricultural Ditch company; from 1872 to 1876 president of the East Denver board of education; BARTELS, Gustave C., lawyer, was born January 22, 1858, in Bellvue, Neh., son of Louis F. Bartels, afterward one of the leading merchants of Denver. Gustave C. came to Colorado with the family in 1862; attended Washington University in St. Louis four years, from 1872 to 1876; subsequently entered Ann Arbor, Mich., University and was graduated from its law department in 1879. Returning to Denver, the law firm of Bartels & Blood was formed, which still continues, and has met with great success in practice and in real estate transactions. Mr. Bartels was made corporation counsel of the city of Denver under the administration of Mayor William Scott Lee. served on the board of trustees for Wolfe Hall. Jarvis JIall and St. Luke's Hospital for many years; a member of the Episcopal standing committee for 1878-79; was the first president of the Colorado state historical and natural history society, organized Feb- ruary 10, 1879, an office which be has re- tained to the present time, and largely through his efforts the fine collection of pre- historic relies, and other valuable articles now In the state capitol has been gathered. He aided in organizing the first post of the G. A. R. in 1868, was chosen its first post commander, and was soon after made by General Logan the commander-in-chief of this organization, provisional department commander of Colorado and Wyoming, the BELFORD, James B., See Vol. III, page 75 BERGER, William B., See Vol. HI, page 184 first to hold that honorable position. Dle is also a member of the Loyal legion. He has BYERS, William N., pioneer journalist of Colorado, was born in Madison county, O .. February 22. 1831, son of Moses Watson and Mary Ann Byers. His grandfather was James Byers, great-grandfather, Andrew Byers, who served in the armies of the Rev- olution. At page 136, Vol. Ill, of our general history will be found a condensed account of his earlier years. We present the facts which follow simply to complete that part of his biography which relates to his family ante- cedents, prior to his appearance upon the soil of his adopted state, the material features of his identification with the development of events here having been treated in our his- torical review. His paternal ancestors first settled in America at the beginning of the ISth century, emigrating from Londonderry and settling on the frontier of Pennsylvania, whence they removed to the Nciola valley in Ohio, where his father became a land-owner contributed a number of valuable papers to the medical literature of the state and nation, relating chiefly to the climate of Colorado and the class of diseases benefited by resi- dence here: indeed nearly all the more im- portant digests of those subjects published between 1866 and 1876 were from his pen. Most of them were reproduced in the widely circulated medical and other journals of the country and attracted large numbers of invalids to the Rocky Mountains. From the primal basis of quite extensive training in early life, his large experience in army hos- pitals, and his extensive practice in Colorado, he has acquired great learning. In the years of his residence in Denver he has acquired an ample fortune, partly from his medical practice, but more especially from invest- ments in real estate and buildings. His por- trait appears in Vol. III, page 280.
PH. ZANG.
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and conducted a prosperous farm. His mother York City. In 1832 they removed to central was a member of the Brandenburg family, New York, where Edward was educated. her parents being among the earlier settlers
In 1845 he entered U'nion college, graduating in the Miami valley near the present site of in 1849. Having a natural inclination toward Dayton, O. William, during the winter and remarkable aptitude for the study of months, attended the country school, the re- the sciences, he finally adopted civil engi- neering. Ile went to South America in 1851 as an engineer on the Panama Railroad, re- mainder of the year worked on the paternal farm. Later on he was favored with the better advantages of West Jefferson academy. maining there until Sept .. 1852. Return- Ile mastered the ordinary branches of study and became quite proficient in surveying. In 1850 he removed with his father to lowa, and in 1851 engaged as a chainman and compassman with a deputy U. S. surveyor in making government surveys in the western part of that then sparsely inhabited country. He ran section lines until the contract was completed in 1852, then set out with a large party for the Pacific coast. They traveled 145 days without seeing or passing a human habitation save the military posts of Forts Kearney and Laramie, the Northwest fur- trading posts of Forts Hall and Boise, and the U'matilla Indian agency. Their long and trying journey terminated at Oregon City. Where Mr. Byers engaged as a U. S. surveyor in the coast mountains of Western Oregon. The next season he ran the first township and section lines in what subsequently became the state of Washington. In the winter of 1853 he traversed the mining districts of California, and returned home via the Isth- mus of Panama. In 1854 he settled in Omaha, Neb., there being only one log cabin on the townsite. lle surveyed a large part of that now large and prosperous city. He was a member of the first territorial legislative as- sembly of Nebraska in 1854-55, and the first U. S. deputy-surveyor to enter the field upon the survey of township and section lines. When the city government of Omaha came to be established he was elected a member of its board of aldermen. In March, 1859, he brought the first printing press to Denver, and on the west bank of Cherry creek established the "Rocky Mountain News" For an account of the journey and the founding of the paper, see, Chap. VI. Vol. Ill. The balance of the story has been toll. The influence exerted by Mr. Byers upon the destinies of Colorado is well nigh immeasurable. Like that of Governor Evans, it bore conspicuous part in shaping all of the great conditions that have made Denver and this state their fame, His name and work are inseparably connected with this glorified city of ours, and with every progressive movement in our incom- parable state. In 1854 he married Elizabeth Minerva Sumner, grand-daughter of Hon. Robert Lucas, governor of Ohio in its early history, and was also the first governor of lowa.
ing to the United States, he followed his pro- fession in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Wiscon- sin and Iowa. In 1855 he settled in Leaven- worth, Kan., Was married Feb. 25. 1856, at Logansport. Ind., and in March, 1860, with his wife came to Colorado, and located in Golden, which has been his residence ever since. Captain Berthoud completed the sur- vey of the townsite of Golden that year. In ISGI, as related in Vol. IHI page 503. he started to explore a line of survey from Golden to the head of Clear Creek Canon, and in May following discovered a practicable pass into Middle Park, which took his name. Sub- sequently he surveyed a railway line to Salt Lake City. The remainder of his career, down to the close of the civil war was chief- ly as a soklier. In April, 1862, he was appointed 1st lieutenant of company II, 2nd. Colorado volunteers. In March, 1803. he was appointed regimental-adjutant and stationed at Fort Lyon, Colo,, until April of the same year. In May following, having marched to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., he was made post-ad -- jutant at Fort Larned, and also .1. A. A. G. in charge of the Santa Fé road from Council Grove, Kan., to the Raton Mountains in Colorado. In December. 1863, he was ordered to Kansas City, where he reported to Gen. Thomas Ewing. In February, 1861. James II. Ford, who, the previous November, had been promoted to be colonel of the 2nd Colorado. was placed in command of the border counties of Missouri, when Lieutenant Berthoud was appointed 1. A. G. of those turbulent and . guerrilla infested districts. Thenceforward. until relieved in July, 1864, his duties were of the most difficult and harassing character. the region being raided by the worst elements of the contending armies. In July he was promoted to the captaincy of company D, 2nd Colorado cavalry, and ordered to Warrens- burg. Mo., as engineer officer on Gen. E. B. Brown's staff. In September, 1861, being then in the same position on Gen. Pleasonton's staff, the second campaign by Gen. Sterling Price took place. All hurried to the field. and finally the troops of the district rallied at Jefferson City to protect the state capital. As engineer officer, Capt. Berthoud was em- ployed inerecting batterles, rifle pits, ete., until October 11. After the assault by Price on Jefferson City, and Its repulse on the Sth and 9th of October, pursuit was immediately be-
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