USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 40
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 40
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
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Union Pacific Railroad. In February, 1869, heagain returned to Denver, and has since that time directed his attention chiefly to the real estate and mining business. He is the senior partner of the firm of Anthony & Landon, abstracters of titles, and has the most complete set of books to be found anywhere in that branch of business. Mr. Anthony was married in Denver, December 17, 1878, to Lucy I. Stebbins, who died the following spring.
JOHN C. ANDERSON.
As a pioneer of Colorado and a citizen of Den- ver, in the early period of her existence, few have taken a livelier interest in the affairs of the State and Territory, and none have labored more ardu- ously for the upbuilding of the present admirable system under which the public schools of Denver are conducted than has John C. Anderson. He was born in the city of New York April 19, 1837. His education was obtained at Fergusonville and Irving Institutes, in his native State. Coming to Colorado in 1860, he assisted in the organization of the Lincoln District, of which he was elected Recorder. From 1870 to 1873, he was Treasurer of the Denver Board of Education, in which capacity he was particularly active in effecting a more com- plete and systematic organization of the schools than had previously existed. So great were the services he rendered in the office he so creditably filled that, with his name omitted, the history of the public schools of Denver could not be written. He entered the army, as a private, in August, 1861, and served throughout the war, being pro- moted to various positions on the staffs of Gen. E. K. S. Canby and others. As a member of Company G, First Colorado Infantry, he was successively promoted from a private to Second and First Lieutenant, Captain and Major of the Veteran Battalion of his regiment. By order of the Secretary of War, he was made mustering officer of the District of Colorado. He was mus- tered out in January, 1865. Before coming to Colorado, Mr. Anderson had been engaged in busi-
and since the war has held a position of trust in the First National Bank of Denver, the leading financial institution of the West. He was mar- ried, September 21, 1862, to the daughter of Hon. Edwin Scudder, of Boston, Mass.
HERMAN BECKURTS.
Herman Beckurts, proprietor of the Denver Tribune, the leading Republican paper between St. Louis and the Pacific Coast, was born in Brunswick, Germany, on the 15th of Novem- ber, 1829. His father, who was a physician, was a man highly respected, both in social life and in his profession. At one time, he owned a large plantation in South America, near Demarara, and resided there, but afterward returned to his native country. Mr. Beckurts was educated with that care which the higher families in Germany always bestow upon their children. He was for six years at the Gymna- sium, and, after completing the course, engaged in mercantile business. In 1849, he came to this country and went to Louisville, his inten- tion being to remain here a few years, study our commercial methods, and then return. A short residence, however, determined him to locate permanently in the republic and become a citizen. He entered the house of J. Von Borries & Co., and remained with it as its book-keeper for several years, when he was admitted as a partner, and the firm name changed to Von Borries & Beckurts. In a brief time, Mr. Beckurts took a high position in the commercial world of the Kentucky metropolis. He was elected a Director in the Merchants' Bank of Kentucky, and con- tinned in that capacity for sixteen years. When the first great Exposition was held in Louisville, he was most active in the details of its establish- ment, and was chosen its First Vice President, in which office he continued until his departure from the city. He was also for years Consul for one of the German States.
In 1875, Mr. Beckurts moved to Denver and ness in New York City, and in Dubuque, Iowa, . purchased the Tribune. At the time he came in
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possession of the paper it had, through bad man- agement, fallen into general disrepute, but he immediately set to work to see what energy could do toward building it up. Every State interest was carefully watched and represented in its columns, and the news columns were conducted with great enterprisc. This legitimate work pro- dnced legitimate results. In three years the paper has quadrupled in circulation, and is now recog- nized as one of the ablest in the entire West. Its circulation is still rapidly increasing, and the growing resources which are a consequence of the immense strides which Colorado is making in wealth and population, are being fully utilized. In 1876, Mr. Beckarts was elected a Presidential Elector for Colorado, and having received a larger number of votes than any one else upon the ticket, was made President of the Electoral Col- lege, and cast the vote of the State. The Tri- bune has recently been enlarged to an eight- page paper-the second enlargement since it came into Mr. Beckurts' hands. Its present chief editor is Mr. O. H. Rothacker, and its business manager is Mr. Charles A. Raymond, who has been with the Tribune for four years.
JOHN SIDNEY BROWN.
The reputation enjoyed by a metropolitan city, throughout the country at large, depends more upon the character of its wholesale merchants than upon any other single cause. While the professional man on the one hand, and the retail dealer and the artisan on the other, are more or less restricted in their influence, that of the wholesale merchant is far-reaching, extending over a large field, permeating all the avenues of trade, and penetrating to the remotest village of the tributary region. No city enjoys a more enviable reputation for the high character of her merchants, as regards strict commercial integ- rity, business enterprise and fair dealing, than Denver. Among them all, none occupy a higher place in the estimation of the business men of Colorado and adjacent Territories, nor stand
higher among their more immediate neighbors in the city, than the firm of which the subject of this sketeh is the senior member. Born in Ashta- bula County, Ohio, June 10, 1833, Mr. Brown is descended from rural ancestors, of the middle class, occupying that happy mean between great wealth and extreme poverty, which is justly con- sidered as most conducive to the development of right character. His youth was passed mainly in the usual labors of the farm, and attending a dis- trict school during the winters. He also enjoyed the advantages of a few terms in a neighboring academy. At the age of twenty-four, he moved to Kansas, then just emerging from the troublous times of the few previous years, and there entered the employ of his brother, J. F. Brown, who, with a partner, was engaged in the manufacture of lumber for the Atchison market. On the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, a fall- ing-off in the demand for lumber induced the firm to utilize the large number of teams on hand by loading a wagon train with merchandise, and plac- ing Mr. Brown in charge, in which capacity he started aeross the Plains to Denver. He made two trips that summer, and, in the early part of 1862, made a final trip, becoming a permanent citizen of Denver, and, the following autumn, he engaged with Mr. A. B. Daniels in the grocery business. During the great fire of 1863, they were sufferers to the extent of their entire stock, which so crippled them that, after paying off their indebtedness, their combined capital did not amount to $1,000. Nothing daunted, they began again, and continued to do a prosper- ous business up to 1868, when Mr. Daniels retired from the firm, and, in 1870, Mr. Brown was joined by his brother, J. F. Brown, who had been more or less interested in the business from the start. The first year after the fire, their business amounted to $200,000, and has steadily increased until it reached, the past year, $1,750,000, includ- ing the grain business of J. W. Richards & Co., of which firm they are partners. Fully $1,400,000 of this was in groceries. Mr. Brown attributes
5
Josif Farmers
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their success to their practice of transacting just what business they can on their own resources, and never borrowing money with which to do busi- ness. They have always made it a point to meet every claim with promptness, never allowing a creditor to come twice with a just demand. Mr. Brown was one of the organizers of the City National Bank of Denver, has since been a Director, and, for several years, has been its Presi- dent. He is also a member of the banking-house of Daniels, Brown & Co., of Del Norte-known as the Bank of San Juan, and having the reputation of being the strongest institution of its kind in the Western country. Being in the nature of a private firm, it possesses the combined strength and credit of all the parties interested. He helped to organize, and was, for several years, a stock- holder of the Denver Pacific Railroad Company, and is now a heavy stockholder and a Director of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad, an institution in which the citizens of Denver feel greatly interested, and take just pride. He has always identified himself with all enterprises calculated to benefit the city and State. Mr. Brown has no political aspirations, and although his well-known business sagacity and prudence, which he has displayed in the conduct of his private affairs, would have heen of great service to the community, his tastes and inclinations, as well as his devotion to his business, would never admit of his accepting public trusts, andthat " the post of honor is the private station " is demon- strated by the high regard in which he is held as a merchant, and an upright, honorable citizen.
JUNIUS F. BROWN.
This gentleman is a native of Conneaut, Ohio, and was born in 1828. Receiving a good com- mon school and academic education, he left home in 1850, and going to Toledo, found em- ployment in a large forwardingand commission house. He remained in Toledo seven years, most of the time in the employ of Bucking- ham & Co., a well-known firm having branches
in several of the large cities. For four years prior to 1861, he was engaged in the manu- facture of lumber in Kansas, to which State he had removed in 1857. From 1861 to 1870 he followed merchandising in Atchison, and freight- ing on the Plains. He was also a partner of his brother, J. S. Brown, in the wholesale grocery business, in Denver. He removed in 1870 to Denver, where he has since been a prominent citi- zen, not as a politician, for he has shunned con- nection with either State or municipal affairs, but as a solid, substantial merchant and citizen. The exacting cares of a large and constantly increasing business demand all his efforts. His great business ability, his unwearying industry, and his long com- mercial experience, eminently qualify him for the management of the largest wholesale business in the State. While all the business interests of himself and brother are in common, a division of the labor, as in all successful enterprises, is found necessary, and therefore, while he gives his per- sonal attention to the details of the mercantile interests, Mr. J. S. Brown attends to the various railroad and banking interests. Their store on Wazee street, to which they removed during the summer of 1879, occupies three full lots, and contains nine large storerooms, three on each floor, filled with an extensive stock of every variety of merchandise that goes to make up the wholesale grocery business. The office occupies the middle room of the main floor, and is a model in every respect, being divided into three apartments, the inner of which is surrounded with glass walls, and commands a view of the outer offices and the large clerical force. Although a "business man " in the best sense of the term, Mr. Brown does not allow the cares of business to intrude upon his hours of recreation or the enjoyment of home life- He is a great lover of flowers, and not only is his residence in Denver, a view of which adorns this work-a model of architectural beauty, but his grounds, filled with a profusion of flowers and shrubbery, present a most beautiful appearance, and attract general attention. As a merchant and
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a citizen, Mr. Brown occupies no secondary place in the estimation of the people of Denver, while among business men throughout the West his name is a synonym for commercial reliability, unswerving integrity, unwearying application, and honorable success.
JOSEPH L. BAILEY.
Among those who, at the beginning of the Pike's Peak gold fever, helped to swell the army of adventurous pioneers moving across the Plains; whose early experience was one of fail- ure, deprivation and hardship, but whose sub- sequent efforts have been crowned with abundant and well-deserved success, is Joseph L. Bailey, who has been closely identified with the history of Denver for twenty years, and whose inti- mate connection with the pastoral and agricult- ural interests of Colorado has given him not only a reputation but a personal acquaintance with the leading farmers and stock men throughout Colorado, Wyoming, New and Old Mexico and Texas, all of whom place the most implicit confidence in his superior business judgment, high sense of honor and unswerving integrity. Mr. Bailey was born in Philadelphia in 1835, and is descended from an old Maryland family, his paternal and maternal ancestors being among the earliest settlers of that State. His grandfather was a soldier of the Rev- olution, and fought bravely through that pro- traeted struggle for national existence, while his father served his country equally well in the last war with Great Britain. He received a good English education in the public schools of his native city, and this was supplemented by a thorough knowledge of the carpenter's trade, which he acquired under the instruction of his father, who was a practical builder and large contractor, and for many years Inspector of Lum- ber at Port Deposit. Equipped with a set of carpenter's tools, he left home at the age of twenty- one, going West to St. Louis, but not liking the outlook there, he kept on to Leavenworth, Kan., then a small place, where he found employment at
his trade. During his three years' residence in Kansas, he took an active part in the fierce politi- cal struggle that was then convulsing the Terri- tory, espousing the cause of the Free-State party in its conflict with border ruffianism. In January, 1859, he, in company with five other young men, left Leavenworth, and, going as far as Topeka, they camped there till the following April, when they started up the valley of the Arkansas to " Pike's Peak." They came by easy stages, hunt- ing and trapping on the way, and in June, 1859, arrived at Cherry Creek, where they prospected for two weeks and then joined the stampede for the newly discovered Gregory mines in what is now Gilpin County. There they traded their outfit with Capt. Sopris, now Mayor of Denver, and others for a claim on Casto Hill, which they worked until their last dollar and all their provis- ions were exhausted, when they returned to Den- ver in a dilapidated condition and with not a cent in their pockets. Mr. Bailey, having had suffi- cient experience in mining, went to work at his trade for the Pike's Peak Express Company, and, a month later, bought, on credit, a meat shop ou Blake street, where he did a very prosperous business, clearing with his partner over $30,000 in the brief period of eighteen months. There being no banks, they kept their money, consisting of coin and gold dust, hid in the ground under their store. Ou the breaking-out of the rebellion, their book-keeper, a strong Southern sympathizer, disappeared and the money with him, leaving the proprietors bankrupt. During the next few years, he held the offices of Street Commissioner, City Marshal, Provost Marshal under - Wanless, and Deputy United States Marshal during Hon. A. C. Hunt's term as Marshal. He was also employed by the Government in the secret division of the Treasury Department, and was very efficient in hunting down and working up cases against the counterfeiters who for a time infested the Terri- tory. He served as Deputy Sheriff under Sher- iffs Sopris, Kent, Wilson and Cook, for several years, and was twice chosen a member of the City
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Council of Denver, where he was active in all matters pertaining to the good of the city, and especially so in his opposition to the lot jumpers. The fire department of Denver has always been the object of his especial solicitude. He was its chief for two years, and did much to bring it to its present efficient condition. Although the press of private business did not admit of his remaining longer at its head, his interest in the department has not diminished since his retirement from the position. As chief, he organized the Firemen's Officers' Association, which met to consult over matters pertaining to the interests of the depart- ment. For the past fifteen years, he has been the proprietor of the Bull's Head Corral, which he established in 1865, and which has for years been the rendezvous of the leading stock men of the Western States and Territories. He handles the bulk of the hay that comes to the Denver market, his trade in that commodity alone amounting to 4,000 tons in 1879. Mr. Bailey's business career has been a notable success, and he is now the pos- sessor of an ample fortune, the result of years of close application to business, combined with excel- lent judgment and personal integrity, which won for their possessor both the confidence of men and the favor of fortune. He was an active organizer of the Colorado Cattle-Growers' Association, the leading organization of its kind in the country, and was for two years its President, laboring con- stantly and arduously for its upbuilding and the advancement of the cattle interests of the Terri- tory. Mr. Bailey's personal popularity increases instead of diminishing with long acquaintance, and it is among those who have known him for years that his generous disposition and many noble qualities are most fully appreciated.
JOHN D. BEST.
John D. Best, senior partner of the firm of Best & Wilder, commission and produce mer- chants, came to Denver from Chicago in 1872, and engaged in the commission business, in which he has since continued. In June, 1878, he com-
menced the forwarding business with the Deuver & South Park Railway Co., and established a branch business at the end of the track, known as Best, Clark & Co., still continuing their business at Webster. The firm is one of the largest com- mission and wholesale produce dealers in the city. Mr. Best is largely interested in the Geneva Con- solidated Silver Mining and Smelting Company, of which he is the resident Director and purchasing agent. The officers are J. Hyde Sparks, Presi- dent; J. P. Sanborn, Treasurer, and A. L. Steb- bins, Secretary. This Company has a capital stock of $2,500.000. Its property is composed of a number of mines situated at the head of Geneva Valley in Clear Creek County, sixty-four miles from Denver. While waiting for economic trans- portation, little more has been done than to prove their great value. The Company has recently completed two tunnels, the Britannic and Levia- than, intersecting in all twenty-seven silver and gold bearing lodes. Together they may well be called the Geneva Group.
JOHN M. BARRET.
There is not a writer on the press of Colorado who is better known, both among his professional brethren and the public as well, than Mr. John M. Barret, chief of the News. His large acquain- tance-so desirable to one intrusted with the management of a great publication-arises as much from his popularity with his colleagues as from the respect accorded his opinions by the public.
Mr. Barret is a native of Kentucky and was born in Brownsville, in that State, in 1838. From there the family removed to Pettis County, Mo., where Mr. Barret's boyhood was passed. His education was intrusted to the Faculty of Center College in Danville, Ky., from which institution he graduated with creditable honors in 1857. An interval of a few years was profitably passed in taking a law course, and before he had attained his majority, he had entered the practice of his profession, and by natural ability and a remarka- ble faculty for solving the intricate problems of
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the law, succeeded in building up an enviable practice in Central Missouri. His career at the bar was cut short by the advent of the war, in which Mr. Barret espoused the cause of the South and served with courage and fidelity to his princi- ples until its close. The close of the rebellion brought to Mr. Barret a realization of the fact that his inheritance-consisting of negro slaves and valuable lands in Missouri-had become worthless -the one by the emancipation act and the other by the depression that followed in the wake of devastating armics. To attempt the rebuilding of his law practice was disheartening, and he availed himself of an offer to become identificd with the editorial management of the New Orleans Picayune, at that time under the control of A. M. Holbrook. His success in journalism was even more marked than his success at law, and though content to begin his new career in the capacity of a reporter, his genius for journalism enabled him to rapidly advance in the estimation of the paper's patrons, until he was leading editor of its columns. The ill health of his wife, in 1874, necessitated a change to St. Louis, where his connection with the Republican and afterward with the Times, were both profitable to himself and pleasant to the readers of the papers.
During succeeding years, he emigrated through the West stopping some time in Montana and traveling through Utah and Nevada. Again he returned to Missouri and assumed editorial control of the Democrat at Sedalia-his old home. Here, in the fall of 1878, he received a tender of the political editorship of the Rocky Mountain News, which had just passed into the possession of Hon. W. A. H. Loveland. No man ever assumed a more disheartening or what appeared a more de- spairing task. The paper, by its change of owner- ship, had espoused the cause of the Democracy. The party, disheartened by repeated defeat, could scarcely be rallied for the State campaign then in progress. The News, losing the patronage that had clung to it through Republican ownership, was regarded as a stranded investment. The sub-
scription list had dwindled to a beggarly edition, and old publishers predicted its suspension at the close of the campaign. But with the indomitable energy that has since characterized his manage- ment, Mr. Barret took the News, infused life into its editorial pages, and made its news-columns bristle with fresh and sparkling intelligence that gave the paper a strong foothold which has since been fostered and strengthened, until to-day it is regarded as a most important factor in educating public opinion in Colorado. It is difficult to imagine a man more fitted, by nature, for a mana- ger than Mr. Barret. His popularity with per- sons of his own political creed is only equaled by the respect accorded his opinions by his opponents. A more convincing evidence of this could not be given than the action of a recent Republican State gathering, whose leaders were not ashamed to in- dorse a measure of vast importance to the. people of the State, urged by the News and opposed by their own party press.
The success of his management is due to his intuitive knowledge of men and his readiness to note and acknowledge their ability. The quick, Southern temperament that is a part of his nature is shaded by a genial, open-handed generosity that wins to him the gratitude of many and the admira- tion of the public. He lives in the success of his paper-a monument to his genius as a journalist, and the triumph of a mind that "acknowledges no criterion but success."
PROF. JOSEPH BRINKER.
Prof. Joseph Brinker was born at Newcastle, Henry Co., Ky., April 14, 1833. His father, Maj. Joseph Brinker, was born near Winches- ter, Va., December 5, 1776; moved to New- castle in 1800; married first Miss Polly Rob- erts, of Fayette County, Ky., to whom were born nine children, and afterward Mrs. Martha Palmer (nee Lafon), of Fayette County, Ky., to whom were born four children. He lived at New- castle until a year previous to his death, which occurred at Louisville, Ky., March 31, 1860. Of
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RESIDENCE OF THE LATE JOSEPH P. FARMER, DENVER, COL
C
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the first marriage, the only living representative is Mrs. Mary J. Castleman, who first married William N. Gist, of Fayette County, Ky., to whom were born eight children, five of whom are living- Mrs. Mary G. Bryan, near Lexington, Ky .; George W. Gist, near Newcastle, Ky .; Mrs. Kate B. Castleman, in Louisville, Ky .; Mrs. Mariana B. Stirman, in Denver, Colo., and Mrs. Levi Lid- dell, near Trinity, La. After the death of Mr. Gist she married George C. Castleman, formerly of Louisville, Ky., and the two are now journey- ing down the hill of life at the " old home " in New- castle. Joseph, the only living representative of the second marriage, received his early education at Henry Academy, an institution his father was largely instrumental in establishing. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to the Western Military Insti- tute at Georgetown, Ky., where he received instruc- tion in military drill from Col. Bushrod Johnson, and in mathematics from Prof. James G. Blaine (now the honorable Senator from Maine), by whom he was honored with the distinction of Squad-Master of his class. At the age of seventeen, he went to Bethany College, Virginia, where he remained two years, completing the study of mathematics, chem- istry, philosophy, mental and moral science, belles lettres, and would have completed the languages but for an accident to his father which required his presence at home. Three years were spent in attention to his father's business, settling the estate of his deceased brother-in-law-W. N. Gist-in looking after the interests of the heirs, whose guardian he became, and in managing a large and handsomely improved farm which his father had given him. July 12, 1855, he married Miss Lizzie F. Chenault, eldest daughter of Waller Chenault, of Madison County, Ky., whom he first met six years previously, while she was a pupil of Henry Female College at Newcastle, Ky., from which institution she graduated in 1853, with the the honors of her class. At an early age, Miss Chenault manifested a great fondness for music, and her father, discovering that she possessed a fine voice, determined to give her a liberal musi-
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