History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 90

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

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his mother of Massachusetts. He waseducated in the district schools, and served as a clerk in his father's store. In ISSI he entered the Syracuse institute with the view of adopting the medical profession, but was diverted from this purpose in 1856 by the free state and pro- slavery contest for supremacy in Kansas, whither he went to join the former party in a spirit of devotion to its principles. Ile pre- empted a land claim near Lawrence, and re- sided upon it about one year, then in the spring of 1858 joined the first Lawrence ex- pedition of gold hunters bound for the Rocky Mountains, They arrived on the Fontaine qui Bouille, 10 miles from where Pueblo now is, July 4, and soon afterward passed up that stream to the place afterward located as Colo- rado City. They prospected for gold, but without satisfactory results. Receiving in- telligence of discoveries in what is now the San Luis Park, Mr. Miller and party went to Fort Garland, but finding the prospects un- favorable, they divided, some remaining in New Mexico, and the others, Mr. Miller among them. returning to the South Platte river, where Green Russell's band had found con- siderable precious metal. After gathering about an ounce and a half of gold, he, with a party of 15, went back to Kansas. The fol- lowing winter Mr. Miller spent at the old homestead in New York, but the next spring (S50) returned to Colorado and proceeded to the Gregory mines. Soon afterward he bought a guteb claim in Deadwood diggings, on the south fork of the St. Vrain, and worked it all summer, but with indifferent suecess. In September he came to Denver, bought hay down the Platte, hauled it over the rough and rugged road to Monutain City, and sold it for ten cents a pound. During the spring and summer of 1860 he mined in California Gulch. The winter of 1560-61 was passed at Empire, at the head of Clear Creek valley. In the carly part of 1861 he enlisted in the 1st regiment, Colo, volunteers, company F. Capt. Sam Il. Cook, and took part in its brisk and successful campaign in New Mexico. the history of which is set forth in our first volume. At the close of his term of enlist- ment he was mustered out as quartermaster sergeant of his company. In Oct., 1861, he again returned to New York, but in the spring of 1865 found his way back to the Rocky Mountains, spending the summer in freight- ing between Missouri river shipping points and Denver. Early in 1866 ho settled in Pueb- to, and made that place his permanent resi- dence. Through various misfortunes he had lost everything, and landed there well nigh penniless. But, being young. strong and val- iant. ho seized the first employment that of- fered the humble service of a teamster. Soon afterward he took a clerkship in a store, where his energy and pleasing manners won

MILLER, John D., merchant, was born a multitude of friends, Therefore, a year in Danby, Tompkins county. N. Y., March 22, later, he was nominated and elected to the

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

office of county clerk, and at the close of his moved to Missouri in 1835, his father being term re-elected, He was nominated for a of Scotch-Irish descent, and his mother of third term. but the democrats being in the ascendency that year he was defeated. lle then formed a partnership with Mr. T. W. Sayles in the grocery trade. Meanwhile, by close economy and careful hoarding of his salary, he had purchased some real estate in the city, which subsequently became very valuable. The capital for the business just named he borrowed from one of the banks. The firm prospered through constant atten- tion and untiring devotion. Four years later he purchased his partner's interest and con- ducted the store in his own name. The city grew, and with it his trade expanded. In 1\80 be built the largest and finest storehouse in Pueblo, added a wholesale department and pushed his traffie into all the region round abont, to the mining districts in the moun- tains and into New Mexico. Managing all German-English extraction. Both now re- side in Hamilton, Mo., the first being eighty- four years old, and the latter seventy-six, a pair of lovers that have passed in great hap- piness fifty-nine years of married life. Nine years after Andrew's birth, the family settled in Daviess county, where they lived until Feb., 1863, when another change was made to Ilamilton, Caldwell county. Ilere, under better schools, Andrew acquired a little edu- ration in the English branches. During the war he carried dispatches from one company of Ilome Gnards to another, at times when it was unsafe for men to ride in the country. Ilis father being intensely loyal to the Union, he inspired his children with like sentiments, and, to aid the cause, frequently sent An- drew on hazardous missions. At the age of eleven he was left to manage the farm and provide for the family, his father, two broth-

his affairs upon strictly honorable principles, meeting all engagements promptly and to the letter, he established a strong credit and an enviable reputation as a business man. In 1SSSs, when the old Pueblo Board of Trade was reorganized as a stock company, Mr. Miller was elected president of that large and strong body of leading business men. This organization was very active in pushing the interests of Pueblo to the front; they suc- ceeded in obtaining the terminus of the Mis- souri Pacific railroad, the location of the Philadelphia smelter, and in obtaining ground in the center of the city, on which they have since erected an elegant building for the use of the Board of Trade, at a cost of $85,000. He is president of the Pueblo Light, Heat and Power company, organized in 1SSS, with a paid up capital of $100,000. He is vice-presi- dent and director in the Stock-growers' National Bank of Pueblo. first established as a private bank, but nationalized in 1876. 1le is also a stockholder and director in the Pu- eblo Grand opera house association, that erected one of the most superb buildings in the state. le is still actively engaged in busi- ness at the age of fifty-five, carrying on the largest wholesale fruit and produce business in southern Colorado. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church of that place, which he helped to organize in 1870, and which is mainly indebted to him for the completion of its edifice, at a cost of $45,000. Thus we find that this energetic gentleman has risen from a penniless teamster, in 1866, to a proud position among the prominent, influential and wealthy men of the second city in the state. le was married in Dec., 1869. to Miss Lizzie Dotson, the adopted daughter of P. K. Dot- son, one of the earliest of Colorado pioneers.

ers and a brother-in-law being in the Union army. Here he learned the value of self- reliance and of careful business management. which was of great service to him in after years. Having education enough and need- ing the salary, he sought and obtained a school, which he taught for six months. This pursuit he followed alternate seasons until 1871, when his father induced him to work the farm, which he did, raising a large crop of corn, for which he was offered only 10 cents a bushel. After some further labori- ous and disheartening experiences in that line, he resolved to strike out for the New West, and, reaching Denver April 25, 1872, he went to Georgetown, where, finding a de- mand for mechanics, at good wages, he worked as a carpenter in summer, and at the Stewart reduction works in winter, until Sept .. 1874, when he formed a partnership with Henry Allen, in the flour and grain busi- ness, which continued until Oct. 31, 1881. when he sold out and went East, spending the winter in Washington, New York and Boston. Returning to Denver May 2, 1882, he formed a partnership with Brown Bros. & J. W. Richards, and under the firm name of A. McClelland & Co., opened a branch flour and grain house in Pueblo. In September, fol- lowing, the Crescent mills in Denver were destroyed by fire, after which Brown Bros. & Richards dissolved, and Mr. McClelland pur- chased their interests in the Pueblo branch. they generously permitting him to retain their names, which gave his house a commer- vial rating of over $1,000,000. This business has been continued successfully to the pres- ent time. Oct. 26. 1889, he was elected presi- dent of the Pueblo Board of Trade, re-elected in 1890 and again in 1891. llis public work was commenced in April, 1887, as chairman of the right of way committee, to obtain $1,000,000 worth of real estate offered the Missouri Pacifie R. R. as a bonus to make

MCCLELLAND, Andrew, merchant. was born Dec. 18, 1850, in Grundy county, Mo., and educated primarily in one of the back- woods log school houses of that region, where discipline was enforced with a hickory switch. His parents were Virginians, but its terminus there, which he finally consum-

521

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

mated after more than a year of effort. Dur-

charitable institutions, etc., taking part in ing 1859-90 he was chairman of the Board of politics on the democratie side, and in April. Trade committee, in full control of the erec-

1490. was elected city treasurer, by 150 ma- tion of their present magnificent building. In jority, notwithstanding the majority of the Jan., 1891, he donated to the Pueblo public library a sum of money sufficient to start that worthy enterprise, which has since been known as the "McClelland public library." June 20, 1877, at Castle Rock, Colo., he mar- ried Mrs. Columbia J. Gray, "to whom," as he expresses it, "] am largely indebted for 1 have

popular vote was republican. When the city council ordered the removal of the old-time land mark, a cottonwood tree of immense di- mensions, he purchased the tree, had it cut into sections and presented the largest to the D. & R. G. railroad company, on condition that it be left on the platform at the Union depot, its history being inscribed thereon. achieved." He is devotedly attached to his The condition was accepted, and it has re- mained there to the present time, an interest- ing relie of the centuries. Mr. Martin was married in Pueblo, Feb. 29, 1874, to Miss Mary P. Dickson of Kentucky. He was great responsibility accorded him by the busi- largely instrumental in procuring for Pueblo ness men of Pueblo testify to the esteem in which he is held by the community.

whatever of financial success parents, wife and family. To his mother's · love and guidance, and his wife's helpful- ness and counsel, he ascribes the better part of his career. The positions of trust and

MARTIN, Edmund H., real estate broker. was born in Council Bluffs, lowa, in the year 1850, his father being at that time purchasing agent for the American Fur company, and well versed in the various Indian languages of the border. His son, the subject of this sketch, was educated at Wesleyan university, in Millersburg, Ky., his father's birth place. lle also studied commercial book-keeping. and was graduated from Bryant & Stratton's business college. In 1858 he crossed the plains to Salt Lake City, in company with his father, who was quartermaster in General Johnson's army. They left Utah in 1860 and

her first electric light plant, and in inducing the Bell telephone company to establish a plant there.

MAXWELL. James P., recently state en- gineer of Colorado, was born in Walworth, Wis., June 20, 1839. He was educated at Lawrence niversity, in Appleton, that state. graduating in the classical course in June, 1859. He started for the Pike's Peak gold region in March, 1860, arriving at Denver in June; was engaged in mining until 1862 in C'entral mining district, and in Leavenworth Gulch, Gilpin county, and served as sheriff of the district, which also embraced Leaven- worth, Lump Gulch and Goldl Dirt, until ISH1. In 1863, and thenceforward to 1870, he was

went to Denver, where they remained two engaged in the lumber trade, then adopted

civil engineering as a profession, for which he had been fitted by a well-directed course of study and practice. He was appointed a deputy mineral land surveyor, by the sur- veyor-general of Colorado, and has followed that vocation much of the time to the pres- ont. acquiring thereby a very thorough knowledge of the geography and resources of the state. For nearly thirty years he has been an honored resident of Boulder. In 1871 he was elected to the House of Representa-

years, and in Central City one year. They left Denver in 1863 for Millersburg. Ky .. where young Martin attended school, as stated above. In 1870 they went to Kansas City, and in 1872 removed to Pueblo, Colo. Mr. Martin, Sr., came at the solicitation of Wm. P. Mellen, then president of the Colo- rado Coal and Iron company, and he was one of the first to develop South Pueblo, by ereeting what is known as the Phoenix hotel, on Union avenue, half a block of ground he- ing donated him by the company for that pur- tives, of the territorial legislature from Boul- pose. This gentleman died at Pueblo, at the home of his son, Oct. 11. 1881. He was widely known throughout the West. In 1874 Mr. E. H. Martin became a salesman with the firm of Wilson Bros. & Shepard, then do- ing business on Santa Fe avenue, with whom he remained five years, then engaged in the dry-goods trade with Mr. J. B. Orman. under the firm name of Orman & Martin. Eighteen

der county, and re-elected in 1873. Here he received his first lessons in legislative work and parliamentary law that were of great usefulness to him and to the state in after years. In 1876, when Colorado had been ad- mitted to the Union, Mr. Maxwell was elected from Boulder to the state Senate, for a term of four years. At the session of ISTS he was elected president pro tom, of the Senate. and months later Mr. E. Veatch purchased Or- presided over that body with distinguished man's interest, the firm then being Martin ability. Ile was thoroughly conversant with the rules and with parliamentary practice. His decisions were prompt, just and impar- tial, his bearing forceful, dignified and ad- mirable. It is entirely true that the General Assembly from first to last has had no su- perior presiding officer. No man in either political party is better calculated to handle conventions and legislative assemblies with & Veatch. Two years afterward Mr. Martin sold out. and engaged in the real estate busi- ness. with which he has since been connected. In 1888 he was associated in partnership with Mr. JJ. B. Orman. They were among the first to develop suburban tracts. Mr. Martin has been very snecessful in this line, purchasing and selling a large amount of property; also active in promoting public improvements, higher skill and satisfaction to the members

BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

than the subject under consideration. Though not a professional politician, he is a keen ob- server of political events, state and national, a true and patriotie citizen in every sense. There have been times when the better ele-

district of Colorado, Nov. 3, 1SS8, and served through the seventh and eighth General As- semblies; was appointed chairman of the com- mittees on judiciary and irrigation, and took especial interest in irrigation measures. IIe ment of the republican party, to which he introduced and carried a bill, against powerful has always been attached, has desired to odds, establishing the state. normal school at elect him to the chief magistracy, and had Greeley, He is now president of the board of their expressions been heeded he would have trustees for that institution, and takes a given a strong, honest and able administra- tion. for he possesses fine exeentive ability. In 1880 he was elected treasurer of Boulder county, serving two years, In 1889 Governor Cooper appointed him to the high office of state engineer, because of his intimate knowledge of the many intricate problems involved in our very extensive irrigating sys- tems and the multifarious other questions affecting our agricultural interest. In 1891 when Governor Routt came into power Mr. Maxwell was reappointed and the vast amount of work he accomplished in the ad- justment of a great number of serions com- plications attests his qualification for that class of duties. He is a member of the Amer- ican and Denver societies of civil engineers and of the varions orders of Masonry. In 1881 he was chosen grand commander of the Colo- rado Grand commandery Knights Templar. Jan. 24, 1863, he married Miss Francelia Smith, daughter of N. K. Smith of Boulder.

lively interest in its success, devoting much time and liberally of his means to that end. Ilis law practice, while general, is largely de- voted to irrigation cases. While in the Senate he drafted a bill to provide for the appoint- ment by the governor of three commissioners, instructed to take into consideration the whole water question. draft, frame, digest and codify a system of laws "in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and sub- ject to rights vested thereunder, embracing the whole subject of the waters of the state," from whatever source derived, and to "pro- vide for the appropriation, regulation, distri- bution, use and economy of the same, for do- mestie, agricultural, mechanical and mining purposes, ete." Says Mr. David Boyd, in his history of Union Colony: "The drafting of such a bill proves its author to be a man of comprehensive mind, minutely acquainted with all the details of the subject, and alive to the interests of his constituents on this most vital source of their prosperity. It shows that the Senate did well in appointing him chair- man of this important committee, an honor which has always been conferred upon the Senator from this district-thus acknowledg- ing this community as the leader in this mat -. ter." This bill became a law, the committee was appointed, the code drafted, referred to the consideration of the people of the state, and it will doubtless become largely incorpo- rated in future legislation on that subject.

McCREERY, James W., lawyer. was born July 13, 1849, in Indiana county, Pa. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, from which stock some of the most eminent men of our time have sprung, and was raised on a farmi, Where he worked clearing and cultivating land until he was twenty years old, when he left the homestead and attended and taught school alternately while gaining an educa- tion. A marked peculiarity of these Scotch- Irish people is physical and mental force, resolute courage, a determination to accom- MOYNAHAN, James A., soldier and mine manager Was horn in Detroit, Mich., in 1842. Aug. 21. 1862. he enlisted in company (. 27th regiment Mich. volun- teers, and subsequently was promoted to captain. for gallantry in action. Ile plish fixed purposes regardless of obstacles, and the success which usually attends their efforts. These characteristics are almost universal in the race, and in their various manifestations have had much to do in shap- ing the destiny of our republic. Mr. Me- served with the armies of the Ohio and Cum- berland, and in Kentucky, under General Burnside, after which he went to Vicksburg, and was present at the surrender of that city; then went to Jackson, Miss,, thenee back to Kentucky, and across the Cumberland moun- tains, when the army took possession of Ten- nessee; was present at the siege of Knox- ville: remained in Tennessee until the spring of 1864, then returned to Lebanon, Ky., thence to Maryland with the 9th army corps, whence the regiment joined the Army of the Potomac. lle participated in the battles of the Wilder- ness, Spottsylvania and Coldl Harbor. At the former, May 12, 1864, he was wounded in the breast. and was sent to the hospital, but carried the bullet for eleven years. Dec. 2nd, following, he rejoined his regiment in front of Creery was graduated at the Indiana State normal school of Pennsylvania in 1877, then studied law with Hon. Silas M. Clark of that place (a prominent member of the bar at that time and now supreme judge of that state). He was admitted to practice in 1880 and came to Greeley, Colo., in 1881, where he has since resided and practiced his profession. He was married in 1883 and has three chil- dren. By his application and ability he has acquired a lucrative business; is extensively interested in farming and also in mining. Politically, he is an ardent republican, promi- nent in the councils of his party, and has frequently served as chairman of the county central committee and also as a member of the state central committee. He was elected state Senator to represent the 1st senatorial Petersburg, and took part in the siege and fall

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

of that noted stronghold. Here, again, April time he had been studiously reading law, and 2, 1865, he was wounded in the left arm, and the same year he was appointed postmaster for six weeks was unfit for duty. This in- he was also admitted to the bar, and prae- terval he passed at home, in Detroit. Recor- tieed law at Petersburg until 1874, when he ering, he returned to his regiment at Wash- removed to Denver to take the position of city ington, D. C., remaining until July 26, 1565, editor of the old Denver "Sentinel." Subse- quently, however, he abandoned the news- paper business and went into the Wet Moun-

as guard over Mrs. Suratt and other prison- ers, held for the great conspiracy which re- sulted in the assassination of President Lin- tain valley in Custer county, and located at coln. At the date named he was mustered Silver Cliff, where he has practiced law up to out. and, returning to Detroit, entered Bry- ant & Stratton's commercial college, gradu- ating in 1566. In May of that year he mar- ried Miss Mary Monahan of Michigan, and at with Colonel JJ. M. Chivington, by ox team. from Atchison, Kan. Arriving in Denver in August, he went to Park county and began

the present time. Mr. MeNeely has always been a strong and ardent republican, taking an active part in the councils and delibera- tions of his party, having been a member of once started for Colorado, crossing the plains every state convention since Colorado was ad- mitted to statehood. In 1882 he was nomi- nated for Congress but was counted out. "That year, however, he was appointed briga- mining and prospecting in Buckskin Joe, con- dier-general of the state militia by Governor tinuing until 1874, with satisfactory results. Pitkin. He has for many years been county lle spent some time, also, in Mosquito Gulch, attorney of Custer county, and city attorney In 1573 he settled in Alma, and opened a hotel of Silver Cliff, which offices he has filled with which he conducted for two years. In 1874 he honor to himself and credit to his constitu- engaged in mercantile business at Alma, ents. In 1801 he was elected state Senator for which he still directs, and had a branch store the 14th district, which comprises the counties

at Fairplay and another at Leadville. In 1882 he began purchasing rauch property in Park county, and now has 2,100 acres which are de- voted to raising fine blooded horses and cattle. In 1869-70 he was elected county commis- sioner for three years. When he assumed the office warrants were worth forty-eight cents on the dollar, and at the expiration of his term they were worth ninety-three cents. In 1876 he was elected stato Senator in the First General Assembly. for one session. In 1882 he was elected for the full term of four years, and in the meanwhile was chosen president pro tempore. At the close of the session he was re-elected. in 1956 and 1855 h. name was brought before the republican state convention for governor. For years past he has been the manager of the Orphan Boy gold mines in Park county, achieving remark- able success (See history of Park county, this volume). Mr. Moynahan is a man of great energy and skill as a manager, and of un- Impeachable integrity. As a politician he has attained high rank in his party.

of Custer, Huerfano and Costilla.

MOORE, Henry Francis, lawyer and jurist, was born in Paris, Monroe county, Mo., June 27. 1844. Ilis early education was received in the common district schools. When he was sixteen years of age his father became finan- cially embarrassed, during the war, and young Henry was thrown upon his own resources. Hle at once rented a farm in Shelby county, in the same state, and during the next four years he not only worked the farm in a suc- cessful manner, but at the same time at- tended school during a portion of each year. In Feb .. 1864, he started for California with a freight train consisting of sixty wagons, and drove a four-mule team. The outfit was the property of Captain Hugh Glenn, who after- ward became the most extensive farmer in California. Upon his arrival in the latter state he went to the placer mines in Eldorado county, where he remained one season. From 18G5 to 1867 he leased a ranch of 1,000 acres, in Solano county, and each year put from 250 to 500 acres in wheat, the remainder in grass, In the winter of 1867-68 he took a course in

McNEELY, John T., lawyer, was born May 16, 1811, at Petersburg. Ill., where he the Pacific business college in San Francisco,

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 90

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