History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 60

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company
Publication date: 1889-95
Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co.
Number of Pages: 791

USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 60

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the territorial legislature, to the constitutional of mayor. The records indicate that he was convention, and five times to the State Sen- an ardent and serviceable promoter of many ate. He possesses very strong political and important local enterprises that have assisted social influence in Las Animas county and southern Colorado. Having thorough knowl- edge of the English language, as well as of the Spanish, he is an effective and forceful speaker and bright conversationafist in both. He was a delegate to the national democratic convention which met at Cincinnati and nom- inated General Hancock; also a delegate to the democratic convention which met in St. Louis in 1888, and a member of the commit- tee for Colorado to notify Cleveland and Thur- man of their nomination.

in building up that flourishing metropolis. In 1885 he presented to the Tillotson academy. now a very fine educational institute, a hand- some cabinet of minerals and geological cu- riosities, in the name of his daughter Lois. ever since known as the "Lois-Burnett col- fection," accompanying the same with a sup- ply of chemical apparatus sufficient for the effective study of the contents of the mineral cabinet. He also contributed $50 annually to the school for the purpose of adding to the collection. Mr. Burnett was long promi- nent in the advancement of the higher in- terests of the community in which he lived and witnessed its development from a Mex- ican village of adobe houses to a large and brisk modern industrial and commercial cen- ter.

BURNETT, Wm. Ashley, ranchman and stock grower, was born near Jefferson City. Mo., Oct. 14, 1842. His ancestors had been residents of Virginia for nearly two centuries. His education was derived from the common schools, where only the rudiments of the English branches were then obtainable. His BLAND, James, farmer and stock grower, was born at "The Glen," near Kendal. West- moreland. England, May 17. 1840. He was for some years connected with the railroads of his native country, and came to America in 1870, stopping first at Omaha, and then passed on to Denver in the spring of 1872. Ile lived at Godfrey abont a year. but located permanently at Bland, his present home, in 1873. He has since been engaged in farming and raising fine cattle. He has been the post- master of the town which bears his name since 1883, justice of the peace for nearly twenty years, and was appointed a county commissioner to fill the unexpired term of L. R. Tucker, who was elected to the legis- fature of the state in 1890. He is interested in everything that pertains to the welfare of the community, and always exerts his in- fluence on the right side of all questions of public policy which affect the prosperity of his county or the state. mother died in 1849 and his father seven years later. At the age of sixteen he began the battle of life on his own account, and being of an adventurous disposition, entered the employ of Messrs. Russell, Majors & Wad- dell, the famous plains freighters, and with one of their trains started overfand to Santa Fé, N. M. This ocenpation continued some years, in the course of which he met with many thriffing adventures, through frequent encounters with Indians. Soon promoted to the position of wagon-master, he remained thus engaged until the outbreak of the civil war, then enfisted in the Confederate army, serving until Oct .. 1862. In that month he was taken prisoner at Batesville, Ark., and confined in the Myrtle street prison at St. Louis, where he was held captive until Jan., 1863, On being released he at once resumed his former vocation as a freighter, taking charge of a government train between Fort Leavenworth and Santa Fe. The next BELL, John C., a member of Congress, was born in Grundy county, Tenn., Dec. 11, 1851. He attended the public schools of his native county in early youth, and further pursued his studies at Alto, and also at Boiling Fork, in Franklin county, of that state. He read law at Winchester, Tenn .. and was admitted to the bar of that state in 1874. Desiring a newer. broader fieldl for the exercise of his talents he came to Colo- rado and located at Saguache in June of the year he entered the service of Alexander Caldwell & Co., freighters, as wagon-master, continuing with this firm until 1866, when he accepted a similar position with Monroe Salisbury, who was subsequently rendered somewhat famous by his connection with the "Star mail route trials," remaining two years. Ile then became, for a like period, a cattle driver in Texas, and finally, in 1872, settled on a ranch on the Dry Cimarron, being among the first pioneers who located upon and same year. But a little time had elapsed be- stocked the strip of country known as "No fore the people among whom he had cast his Man's Land." Two years later he removed lot recognized his ability as a rising young with his family to Trinidad, Colo. In 1869 lawyer and he was appointed county attor- he married in Davis county, Mo., Miss Lonisa

ney of Saguache county, and served in that Williams, a native of Kentucky. In 1881 he capacity until May, 1876, when he resigned sold his ranch to the Muscatine (lowa) cat- and moved to Lake City, then the most thriv- the company and shortly afterward purchased ing town in the San Juan mining country. a ranch in San Miguel county, N. M., situ- In 1878 he was elected clerk of Hinsdale county. He was twice elected mayor of Lake City, but in Aug., 1885, he resigned that ated on the Canadian river, stocking the same with cattle and making extensive improve- ments. In 1883 he was elected to the city position, and, forming a law partnership with council of Trinidad, and in 1854 to the office Hon. Frank C. Goudy, removed to Montrose,

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where he has since resided. In Nov., ISSS, Mo .. he practiced his profession there until he was elected judge of the 7th judicial Isso, when he came to Denver, and, resum- ing his law business, he followed it until 1889. when he was appointed police magistrate. hokling that position till April, 1891. In March, 1804, he was appointed a member of the Fire and Police Board of Denver, contin- ning until March, 1895. Mr. Barnes is well known in this community as a good citizen, an able lawyer and a faithful official. district for a period of six years. After four years' service on the bench he was nominated for Congress from the 2nd district of Colo- rado, first by the populists and afterward by the democratic convention, and was elected to the 53rd Congress, receiving 31,589 votes against 19,572 votes cast for ]]. H. Eddy, the republican candidate. He took an active part in the silver debate in the first session of the 53rd Congress, lle is a practical, clear-headed lawyer, a statesman of much prominence, and guards the interests of his constituency with marked ability. He was re-elected by the populists in 1894, his republican competitor being Hon. Thomas M. Bowen, of Pueblo.

BRISBANE, W. H., business man, was born in Allentown, Pa., Nov. 23, 1551, the son of a Methodist minister, who located in Phila. delphia and died there in 1862. He was first sent to the public schools of that city and subsequently to the Quaker schools, where his studies were completed. Soon afterward he was employed in the business department of the Philadelphia "Press," edited by the famous Col. John W. Forney, where he re- mained until 1868, when he engaged with the larlan & Hollingsworth company, ex- tensive car and ship builders. In 1871 he formed a partnership with Mr. Frank De Maineville, which has continued to the pres- ent time. Soon after the financial panic of 1873 they moved West, and stopped for a time in Cheyenne, Wyo. This was in 1876. When the great discoveries at Lead- ville began to awaken public attention Mr.

De Maineville went to that place, seeking a in Allegheny county, N. Y., Dee. 12, 1838.

business opening for the firm, which was soon found. A few months later he was joined by Mr. Brisbane. The business in which they engaged comprised the purchase and sale of real estate, mining, building, loaning money, ete. In 1882 Mr. De Maineville was elected to the board of county commissioners and served from Jan. 1. 1883, to 1889. In 1888 MIr. Brisbane was elected treasurer of the state. serving the town of 1889-00. Both have been ardent members of the republican party and have taken prominent part in its conventions and elections, local and state.

BARTH, William. See Vol. III, page 100. BOOTH, Levi, farmer, was born in the state of New York, in 1829. When fifteen years of age he moved to Wisconsin, set- tling first at Beaver Dam. and subse- quently in Madison, where he acquired a col- legiate and legal education. After his ad- mission to the bar he practiced two years in Madison. In 1500 he became a resident of Colorado, locating in California Gulch, where he lived three years, engaged in prospecting, mining, ote. lle spent the winter of IS64 in New Mexico, afterward took up his perma- nent residence in the vicinity of Denver, and engaged in the stock business, which he car- ried on with varying success. In 1864 he lo- ented on his farm, comprising six hundred and twenty acres, situated about four mike southeast of Denver. In 1856 he married Miss Millie A. Downing. Together they en- countered the trials and hardships of pioneer days, and are now enjoying the fruits of well- ordered lives, surrounded by a host of friends.

BOWEN, Thomas M. See history of Rio Grande county, this volume.

BLISS, Steven Pitkin, farmer, was born llis father, David Bliss, was a native of Ver- mont, his ancestors having originally settled in Massachusetts in 1636. When Steven P. was three years old. his father moved to Mer- vor county, Pa., where he resided until IS52, then settled in Jefferson county, Jowa. In April, 1856, he became a resident of U'nion county. then a comparatively undeveloped region. Ilere he received a fair education in the pub- lie schools. In the spring of 1560 he came to the Pike's Peak region, crossing the plains with an ox team. Passing through Denver, he took up a mining claim near Breckenridge, in Summit county, and worked it during the summer, but with indifferent results. The next fall he returned to Iowa and engaged in farming and stock raising. In Is61 he married Miss Elizabeth Coy of Abington, Ill. For a

BARNES, S. D., lawyer, was born in Taze- well county, Ill., in 1839, where his parents remained the four subsequent years. They then located in the neighborhood of Chicago. and aftertwo years there wentto Newark in the same state . Hore they resided until 1852, when number of years he fattened hogs and cattle they moved to Galesburg, continuing there till for the Chicago market, the place he had lo- 1867, where S. D. received his education. In cated being well suited to this purpose. In 1862 he enlisted in company (. 22nd Ill. in- a few years he was recognized as one of the fantry and served four years in the civil war. loading stockmon of southwestern lowa. Dee. Ile was in a number of the more important 21, 1873. his wife died, leaving tive small chil- engagements that occurred during that bloody dren. In April. 175, he married lennetta struggle, and while in the line of duty was Hartman of I'nion county, lowa. In INS] to which stato he moved his family in May. twice wounded. Returning to Galesburg, after failing health induced him to visit Colorado, the war. he studied law, and In 1867 was admitted to the bar. Moving to Hannibal, 1884. In the spring of 15% be settled in

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Greeley, purchased a farm a mile and a half Mich. Hle cultivated it until the spring of northeast of that town, and entered quite 1870, when he sold out and joined the Union heartily into farming by irrigation, He was Colony of Colorado. A year later he was the first to make a success of breaking alfalfa elected one of the colony trustees, which po- sod and to demonstrate the wonderful fertil- sition he retained some ten years, and then izing power of this remarkable forage plant. His first crop of potatoes on alfalfa sod yielded about 17,000 pounds to the aere, an almost unheard-of crop. Having elucidated this problem, he soon had many followers. Mr. Bliss died in his home near Greeley, Aug. 27, 1888. For many years he was au active member of the M. E. church, both in lowa and in Colorado. His family still reside on the Greeley homestead. One of the newspa- pers of Union county, Iowa, in commenting upon his death, stated that he was one of the early pioneers of Platte township. where, by his untiring industry, he became the owner of large landed interests, and was one of the most successful farmers and stock raisers in the state; a progressive, genial man, who natu- rally took the lead in the affairs of his neigh- borhood, because everybody honored and re- spected him. The same may be said of his career in Colorado.

was elected to succeed Mr. N. C. Meeker as its second president. Mr. Boyd has never sought political preferment, entertaining profound contempt for the means usually employed to obtain it. But he served six years very ef- fectively as a member of the state board of agriculture and was iis president four years, being selected by that body to fill a vaeaney of trustee. Again, the teachers of the state in 18SO elected him president of the State Teachers' association. as a compliment to the deep interest he has always manifested in the cause of education. Prior to this, however, he had been president of the Gree- ley school board, and superintendent of schools for Weld county. In the winter of 1889-90 he wrote and published a "History of Greeley and the Union Colony," a book of about 450 pages, giving a full account of the inception and progress of that great enter- prise, at once the most remarkable and sue- cessful colonization project ever achieved in the West. Thoroughly familiar with all its phases, internal and external, he wrote from intimate knowledge, and also with great in- tellectual force and manifestly without arti- ficial coloring. It covers the first two trying decades of the colony's existenee, and will always remain the standard authority be- cause of its accuracy. In company with his eldest daughter he spent the summer of 1890 in Europe, going as far as Rome, and visit- ing, in the cireular route taken from Liver- pool to that ancient city, as many places of historical interest as could well be reached. Ile is a superior farmer, an entertaining writer, a profound student of the literature and thought of the age and of the achieve- ments of the human race; a valuable citizen of Weld county and of the state. He was a member of the state Senate in 1892 and IS94, serving with marked ability.

BOYD, David, farmer, was born in An- trim county, Ireland, May 30, 1833, of Scotch- Irish parents, and emigrated with the family to the United States in 1851. They first set- tled in western New York, but three years later moved to Lenawee county, Mieh., where a farm was purchased, and, until his twen- ty-fourth year, David was engaged in work- ing the same. He then entered the Tecumseh high school, with the view of preparing for the state university at Ann Arbor, During the previous three years he had saved $400, and expected this, together with what he could earn during vaeations, to take him through four years in college and three of preparatory work, and the expectation was realized. Ile was matriculated at the uni- versity in the fall of 1853, entering the elas- sical course and taking one of the two scholar- ships then awarded the two best prepared students entering for that course. But be- fore it was well entered upon, the din of bat- tle sounded over the land, arousing the ar- dent and patriotie young men, who were everywhere leaving college halls for the scene of action. After the repulse of Mcclellan be- fore Richmond, Mr. Boyd and nearly half his class resolved to enlist for the war. He en- tered the 18th Michigan infantry July 8, 1862, remaining with it some eighteen months, when he sought and obtained a captaincy in the 40th U. S. colored troops. He was mustered out of the service April 25, 1866. in the 3d Tennessee (Union) cavalry. The and at once returned to his studies at Ann Arbor, graduating with the class of that year, after passing all the examinations of the senior year, a result brought about by

BALDWIN, M. M., farmer and merebant, was born in Knox county, Tenn., in 1844. His education, commenced in the common schools, was finished by a two years' course in Friendsville college. When Tennessee se- eeded from the Union and began to conscript her citizens into the Confederate army, Mr. Baldwin, being loyal to the old flag, resisted the draft, and in the fall of 1862 he with four other young men left home and walked 400 miles to Louisville, Ky., where he enlisted incidents of that journey were both of a thrilling and somewhat Indicrous character. Mr. Baldwin was the youngest of the four, but in him his companions found a safe and constant study in eamp ofter the close of the fearless counselor. Upon his shoulders often war. In the autumn of 1866 he married, and fell the responsibility for the welfare of him- with the $3,000 he had saved while in the self and comrades. But he proved equal to army bought a farm in Lenawee county, every emergency. His regiment belonged to

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the 14th army corps, commanded by Gen. of Ileligoland. After the close of the war, Thomas, his teri of service being three years. he, with others, was ordered to aet as escort He participated in all the active duties and at the marriage of Princess Dagmar of Den- engagements of that department; was con- mark who became Czarina of Russia, at fined as a prisoner of war seven months at St. Petersburg. On returning home he studied Andersonville, and, strange to say, emerged architectural drawing. In 1869 he emigrated to New York, where he worked as a carpenter. In 1872 he moved to Lonisville, Ky., and there engaged in the planing-mill business, and in without receiving a wound. After the war he moved to Missouri and engaged in agri- cultural pursuits and stock raising. In 1877 he came to Colorado and located at Alma, due course was married to one of the belles of and two years later went to Leadville. He that state, In March, 1879, he came to Denver has resided in El Paso county since 1882. where he has devoted himself to farming and mercantile business. He became interested in Cripple Creek two years ago, and twelve months thereafter sold $35,000 worth of min- ing property in that camp and still owns large interests there. He was elected a member of the Ninth General Assembly of Colorado by the republican party of El Paso county. His record in that body was that of an able, con- seientions and industrious member. and engaged in architecture and buikling. In 1856, his brother, V. E. Baerresen, became associated with him, under the firm name of Baerresen Bros,, architects, and by strict and honorable attention to their clients have acquired a fine business; many of the elegant residences, churches and business blocks in Denver and other points of the state were designed by them, and they now rank among the more advanced of the pro- fession. Mr. Baerresen is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Feb. 15, 1892, he received the appointment of vice-consul of Denmark for the state of Colorado.

BALLARD, Edwin A,, lawyer, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, Aug. 20, 1837. Until 1861 he alternated between farming and school teaching. When Lincoln called for volunteers to suppress the rebellion Mr. BAILEY, Joseph L., was born in Phila- delphia in 1835; descended from a soklier of the Revolution, by the grandfather, his father having served in the Continental army in the war of 1812. Joseph received such ed- ucation as the public schools of his time afforded, then went out and began his strug- Ballard enlisted as a private in company II, 24th Ohio infantry, and marched to the front. In 1863 he was promoted to a lieutenancy. Serving until after the close of the war, he was mustered out Sept. 28, 1865. Ilaving studied law prior to his enlistment, he was admitted to the bar in 1861, while on leave gle of life under an apprenticeship to the of absence from the army. Peace being re- stored, he returned to northwestern Ohio and began practicing his profession. From Jan .. 1872, to 1871, he was prosecuting attorney of Allen county. In 1878 he moved to Silver Reef, in southwestern Utah, where he practiced two years, then came to Colorado and settled in Fort Collins. In 1SSG-though a democrat, and Larimer county strongly re- publican-he was elected to the state Senate. He has from the first been very successful in his profession, because he is learned in law and a powerful advocate before courts and juries. lle achieved much reputation by his forceful prosecution of the celebrated "Mil- lington-Avery case," in this city, in the win- ter and spring of 1891. In December of that year he transferred his residence from Fort Collins to Denver, where he is now activety engaged in practice with satisfactory results.

carpenter's trade, his father being a builder and contractor. At the age of maturity. provided with a kit of tools, he emigrated westward, finally locating in Leavenworth. Kan., where in that aspiring metropolis. then young, just at its beginning, he found lucrative employment for his youthful en- ergy and the implements of his trade. lle was just in time, also, to take earnest part in the great political and warlike disturbanees which sprang up between the partizans of slavery and the free state advocates. In .Jan., 1859, just as the reports from the Pike's Peak gold mines began to obtain wide circulation, he collected a group of fine sturdy young fellows like himself, resolved to push into the wilderness of the plains, and on reaching Topeka they went into camp and remained there until the following April. when they passed up the valley of the Ar- kansas river to the newly established City of Denver, arriving in June, Here, as gold was the main object of their seareh, they en- out for the Gregory diggings in Gilpin county. Trading their outfit for a mining elim on n promontory known as Casto hill, they worked it without result, until entirely im- poverished, when they returned to Denver thoroughly satisfied with that chapter of ex- perience. Balloy went to work at his trade

BAERRESEN, Harold W., a prominent architect, was born in Copenhagen, the cap- ital of Denmark, June 1, 1816. He received a liberal education in the better schools of his gaged in prospecting, but at length struck native land. At the age of fifteen, his health being impaired, his father advised a sea voy- age; therefore, in company with a friend of his father, he took a trip around the world. On his return, he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. In the early spring of 186-1, war breaking ont between Denmark, Ger- many and Austria, he was drafted Into the for the Overland Express company, and navy, and served in the naval engagement later bought on eredit a butcher's stall on

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Blake street, where. in the ensuing year and trade on the lower Mississippi. In August a half, he and his partner cleared a profit of of that year he was stationed at St. Joseph. more than $30,000. There being no banks Mo., in the interest of the St. Louis & Keo- which they could trust, this money, ex- cept suthcient for current expenses, was

kuk Packet company. In 1861 he left the river service to accept the western agency buried beneath the floor of the stall. But of the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney railroad, their bookkeeper, being aware of the amount hidden and the place, suddenly decided that with headquarters at Leavenworth, Kan., where he remained until Jan. 1, 1870, when he he wanted to join the Southern Confederaey, came to Denver as general agent of the Union Pacific railway. Subsequently he was made ticket agent for the Colorado railway association or pool, which he retained until other arrangements were formed. when he retired from active business, and until his death was engaged in earing for his property interests in Denver which yielded him a com- fortable income. He died in Denver, Nov. 23. 1893, leaving a wife and one daughter, Mrs. Kate Mcclure.

and so dug up the treasure and disappeared, which again left Bailey and his associate as poor as when they began. During the sue- ceeding years Mr. Bailey held various offi- ces of publie trust under the city government: Street commissioner, city marshal, provost- marshal, under Col. John Wanless, and deputy United States marshal, under A. C. Hunt. He was at one time engaged as government detective in tracing counterfeiters; served as deputy to Sheriffs Sopris, Kent. Wilson and D. J. Cook for several years, and was twice elected to the city council; was chief of the volunteer fire department for two years, and did mueh toward bringing it to an effective stage, and also organized the firemen's offi- cers' association. The Bull's Head stock cor- ral under his management, and of which he was for about twenty years chief owner, was the center of livestock trade, and a gen- oral gathering place for farmers and stock growers while in the city. He dealt in hay, grain, ete., and was one of the organizers and promoters of the Colorado Cattle Growers association, and for two years its president. After about twenty five years' engagement in business he retired, having amassed a comfortable fortune.

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 60

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company Publication date: 1889-95 Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co. Number of Pages: 791

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company
Publication date: 1889-95
Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co.
Number of Pages: 791