USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 43
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 43
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Mr. Brazee was born at Royalton, Niagara Co., State of New York, December 17, 1826. His literary studies were pursued at the Wilson Colle- giate Institute of the same place. Subsequently he removed to Lockport, N. Y., where he studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of his profession in the year 1853, since which time his recognized ability and patriotism have been rewarded by various offices of a civil and military character. From 1852 to 1854, he was town Superintendent of Public Schools at Lockport, N. Y. In 1856, he was elected District Attorney, which office he held for three years. From 1861 to 1864, he was in the army, where he successively held the commissions of First Lieu- tenant, Captain and Major of the New York Forty-ninth Regiment, which did such gallant service in the suppression of the Southern Rebell- ion. From 1863 to 1864, he also filled the office of Judge Advocate of the Second Division of the Sixth Army Corps. In the fall of 1864, he re- turned to the duties of civil life and resumed the
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7 was appointed Brigadier General of the New York State National Guards, Thirty-second Brigade, which commission he held until 1870. In Septem- ber, 1871, he was appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, which office he held until March, 1875, when he resigned and removed to Denver, Colo., to accept the office of Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory. This office be filled until November, 1876, when he again returned to the practice of his profession in which he is still en- gaged in the city of Denver.
HON. HIRAM P. BENNETT.
H. P. Bennett settled in Denver in the practice of law at a time when law was disregarded and the ends of justice were only obtained in the face of opposi- tion and danger. His sterling integrity and ability in the practice of his profession achieved for him the highest commendation from his fellow-citizens. Especially was he noted for his fearlessness in prosecuting and bringing to the gallows the most desperate murderers who infested the pioneer city. He was born in Carthage, Me., Sept. 2, 1826, and emigrated with his parents to Richland County, Ohio, in 1831. In 1839, he went to Andrew County, Mo., remaining there until 1846, when he returned to Ohio and attended school until 1850. He then went to Missouri and began teaching school and preparing himself for the practice of law. Late in 1851, he was admitted to the bar, and, in 1852, removed to Western Iowa, where he settled in the practice of his pro- fession. In 1854, he removed to Nebraska City, and was elected a member of the Council of the first Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska. In 1855, he was a candidate for Dele- gate to Congress against Bird B. Chapman, the regular Democratic nominee, and contested for the seat, but lost it in July, 1856. In 1859, he removed to Colorado and settled in Denver, and continued the practice of law. In September, 1860, he associated Moses Hallett with himself in practice under the firm name of Bennett & Hal-
lett. During the spring and summer of 1860, he distinguished himself by his successful prosecution of several murderers and bringing them to the gal- lows. In July, 1861, he was nominated by the Union Republican Convention at Golden City, for Delegate to Congress against Beverly D. Williams, Democratie candidate, and was elected in August of that year. The following year, he was re- eleeted for a second term against John M. Fran- cisco and ex-Governor Gilpin. He served four years as the first Delegate in Congress from the Territory of Colorado. In 1862, he obtained the passage and approval of the bill establishing a United States branch mint at Denver. In 1869, he resumed the practice of law in Denver, and was soon afterward appointed Postmaster, which position he held until 1874, since which time he has devoted himself entirely to the practice of his profession, with the exception of his term of serv- ice in the first session of the State Legislature as Senator from Arapahoe County.
EDWARD J. BINFORD.
E. J. Binford, wholesale and retail dealer in coal in this city, was born in Crawfordsville, Montgomery Co., Ind., in the year 1838. He remained at his home until he was seventeen years of age, when he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and served an appren- ticeship in the drug business with the firm of Anire, Eckstine & Co. Heremained with that firm four years and then returned to Crawfordsville, where he began the drug business in his own name. About one year afterward, he purchased a second store in partnership with his brother, A. W. Binford, and remained in that business four- teen years. In 1874, be sold out his interest in the drug business to his brother, and in July, of the same year, came to Denver, Colo. He imme- diately became interested in mining in Boulder County, and is now one of the chief owners of the Poorman's mine at Caribou. In 1877, he engaged in the coal business at the old Boulder Valley coal office in this city, and for the last two years has been the leading coal-dealer in the city, in all
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kinds of coal. His wholesale trade extends over the entire State, requiring a shipment of from ten to twelve car loads per day.
WILLIAM W. BORST.
The General Agent, at Denver, of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, is William W. Borst. He was born in Huntingdon Co., Penn., and, through the affluent circumstances of his par- ents, was enabled to acquire a liberal education. His studies were pursued at Jefferson College, in Washington County, and later in the Normal School, in Lancaster County, which he was still attending when the roll of drum and the blare of trumpet resounded through the North, summoning its citizens in defense of the flag that waved over the battlements of Fort Sumter. Yielding to the patriotic fervor which his country's situation engendered in his breast, William W. Borst enlisted for the term of three months, in the Fif- teenth Pennsylvania Infantry, and at the expira- tion of that period re enlisted in the Fifteenth Penn- sylvania Cavalry, Col. W. J. Palmer commanding. The record of this regiment belongs to history, identified with the battles of Stone River and Chickamauga, under Gen. Rosecranz ; with the At- lanta campaign, under Gen. Grant, and the memo- rable cavalry raid under Gen. Stoneman, through the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and back to Nashville, Tenn. At the close of the war, in 1865, Mr. Borst was honorably mustered out of the service, at Nashville, with the rank of Ser- geant Major, and almost immediately returned to Pennsylvania, where he taught school for several years. In time he became connected with the transportation business, as shipping agent, at Pitts- burgh, of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, forwarding materials necessary to the construction of that road west from Fort Riley. He was afterward appointed agent of the Kansas Pacific Railroad at Salina, Kan., whence he removed to Ellsworth, where he filled a similar position, until sent to Sheridan, Kan., in 1869, where heacted as terminal
agent, performing at the same time the duties of Paymaster of the Denver Extension of the Kan- sas Pacific Railroad. When the construction of the road reached Carson, he was appointed agent at that point, and when completed to Denver, was its first representative in that city. In 1871, he severed his connection with the Kansas Pacific Railroad to accept the superintendency of the Den- ver & Rio Grande Railroad, which position he held until September, 1879, when he was transferred to his present office of General Agent of the Atchi- son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Mr. Borst was married, in 1872, to Miss A. F. Hotchkiss, of Allegheny City, and has three sons. Mr. Borst, with his family, attends the Congregational Church, affiliates with the Republican party in national issues, and is interested in the prosperity of this community, not only through his business interests, but also in the possession of real estate within her limits. The responsible positions he has held since his connection with the great railroad corporations of the West, attest his merits more conspicuously than language can express.
SAMUEL P. BARBEE.
Severing the associations of a lifetime, Samuel P. Barbee has come from his native State, Ken- tucky, to live and establish business in Denver, bringing with him capital and an honorable record as a merchant, a veteran of the Mexican war, and a Union man in the dark days of Kentucky's his- tory, when it cost both nerve and fortune to espouse the Union cause. He was born in Lexing- ton, Ky., in 1825, and ere his boyhood had passed, had commenced to learn the business, which, dur- ing most of his subsequent life, he has followed in Danville, Ky., and recently established in Denver. When the Government called for recruits in 1846, to maintain the honor of her flag in Mexico, he enlisted as a volunteer in Company B of the Second Kentucky Infantry, Col. McKee, com- manding, and was soon hurried, with his regiment, to the theater of war. With his comrades he shared the toils of a soldier's career, marching from
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Brazos to Monterey, Saltillo and Agua Nueva, and participating in the battle of Buena Vista, where they won fresh laurels for their country's arms. At the expiration of his term of enlist- ment, he was honorably mustered out of the service in New Orleans, with the rank of First Sergeant, soon afterward went to Danville, Ky., where he conducted an extensive and flourishing business in saddlery and harness up to the breaking- out of the civil war in 1861. During the exciting period which followed the attempted dissolution of the Union, he continued to act as agent of the Adams Express Company at Danville, to which position he had been appointed in 1859, and held until he moved from that town to reside in Colo- rado. In 1872, he came to Denver for the first time, and returned to Kentucky with the determination to make this city his future home, but for various reasons did not carry this resolution into effect until 1879. He is now a resident, with his family, of Denver, and has established his old business of saddlery and harness-making at 413 Larimer street, where he employs several hands in the manufacture of the different articles used in that line of business. Mr. Barbee was married, in 1847, to Miss Mary O. Harris, of Mercer County, Ky., daughter of Walter Harris, a respectable farmer, and has two sons, the elder of whom is associated with his father in business, in the capac- ity of salesman and clerk. Mr. Barbee's devotion to the Union, and the loss he sustained thereby, were recognized by Gen. Grant, when President of the United States, by the appointment as Post- master of Danville in 1868, in which position he served the full term of four years. That he may meet with the success which his past career and present enterprising course entitles him to expect will be the heartfelt wish of every Union-loving citizen of Denver.
H. M. BEHYMER.
This gentleman is an example illustrative of what persevering industry and determination will accomplish. Receiving none of the training of
the schools, he has, nevertheless, by his own exer- tions, mastered all the common branches of an English education, and has a fair knowledge of history and the classics. He was born in Cler- mont County, Ohio, May 31, 1837. At an early age, he learned the cabinet maker's trade, at which he worked until 1857, when he went to Peoria, Ill., and was employed by one of the leading under- takers of that city, with whom he remained several years. In 1861, he began experimenting with chemicals, for preserving the human body, discov- ering a process which he has continued perfecting, until he now has a complete embalming system. He came to Denver in 1875, and for about two years was employed in some of the leading furni- ture establishments of this eity, after which he began the undertaking and embalming business, on Larimer street, in which, with Mr. E. P. Mc- Govern, he is still engaged. His reputation in his particular line is too well known to require comment here.
WILLIAM B. BERGER.
The cashier of the Colorado National Bank of Den- ver was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., May 31, 1839. He left school at the age of thirteen, and for three years clerked in a store in Pittsburgh. At the age of sixteen, he went to Marquette, Lake Superior, on account of the asthma, with which he had been troubled for a number of years. He was in most, if not all, the public offices of the county, serving successively in the post office, custom house, County Clerk's, Recorder's, City and County Treas- urer's, and United States Land offices. At the age of twenty-one, he went to Europe and spent a year in school, at Carlsruhe, and at Nancy, France, studying the languages. Returning to the Lake Superior region, he remained there until the breaking-out of the war, when he enlisted, but was rejected on account of his old complaint-the asthma. He then engaged in the iron and nail manufacturing business with his father, in Penn- sylvania, as traveling salesman, and in the next six years traveled over nearly every State and
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Territory of the Union, building up a trade from almost nothing, to over a million and a half dollars a year. In 1867, he went to Cheyenne as a member of the firm of Kountze, Bros. & Co., Bankers. Cheyenne was then the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad, and the headquarters of nearly all the desperadoes west of Omaha. Rob- berics were of frequent occurrence, and the fact that nearly all the western business of the Union Pacific Railroad was transacted through this firm, made it doubly dangerous, and required constant vigilance on their part. Mr. Berger came to Den- ver in March, 1869, and at once went into the Colorado National Bank, as collection clerk, but rapidly rose from one position to another, until he was appointed cashier, in 1871. He is a gentle- man possessing the highest order of financial ability, and through his exertions and the assist- ance of competent men in all departments, the Colorado National Bank has well kept pace with the rapid onward march of Denver.
HON. WILLIAM N. BYERS.
On the paternal side, William N. Byers is descended from an old Scottish family, who, be- coming identified with the Protestant reformation of the sixteenth century, were driven into the borders of Ireland, and there took part in the famous siege of Londonderry. Emigrating to America, they settled in Western Pennsylvania when that country was a wilderness. There his father was born, and, when one year old, was taken by his parents to the Scioto Valley, Ohio, where they were among the very earliest settlers. His mother was of the well-known Brandenburg family, of German extraction, her ancestors being among the early settlers both of Pennsylvania and of Dayton, Ohio. Both families settled in Ohio about the year 1804. Mr. Byers was born Feb- ruary 22, 1831, in Madison County, Ohio, spend- ing his early years upon a farm. In 1850, he removed with his father's family to Iowa, where, the following year, he engaged in Government surveying, and, in the summer of 1852, he crossed
the Plains to Oregon. He followed his profession of a surveyor in Oregon and Washington Territo- ries, and from there went to California, returning to the States in 1854, about the time the Kansas and Nebraska bill was passed by Congress. Set- tling in Omaha, Neb., when that flourishing city contained but one house, he continued his profes- sion, and surveyed a large portion of Eastern Nebraska, and, as County Surveyor, laid off a great part of the city of Omaha. He was for several years one of the Board of Aldermen of Omaha, and was also a member of the first Terri- torial Legislature of Nebraska, and although but twenty-three years of age, took an active part in the deliberations of that body. On the outbreak of the Pike's Peak excitement, he conceived the project of establishing a newspaper in the new mines, and, in company with two other gentlemen, purchased a printing press, and left Omaha on the 8th of March, 1859, arriving in Denver on the 17th of April. He established the Rocky Mount- ain News, of which he continued at the head until May 5, 1878, and the sole owner since 1870. Not only was the News the first paper in the entire Rocky Mountain region, but, under Mr. Byers' management, it maintained its place in the very front rank of American journals. During all the varying fortunes of Colorado, the News was always faithful to its interests, while the face of its editor was a familiar one in every miner's camp and settler's cabin in the Territory. He thus became familiar with the various interests of Colorado, and, while the press of the East de- nounced him as a falsifier, he continued to pub- lish to the world, through the columns of his paper, the wondrous resources of the Territory, its vast mineral wealth, its boundless agricultural and stock-growing facilities, and the marvelous salu- brity of its climate. He undoubtedly knows Colorado better than any other man, has always had great faith in its future destiny, and has done more than any one else, with his pen, to attract the attention of the world to her magnificent possibilities and make Colorado what she is to-day.
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Mr. Byers was for years a power in politics, not by putting himself forward for public positions, but in his quiet way and by the influence of his pen. He was always an advocate of the admission of the State into the Union, and labored constantly to that end. He was a member and Chairman of the first Convention, in June, 1859, called for the purpose of securing a State organization. This Convention adjourned till the following August, when it was not thought advisable to prosecute the matter farther at that early day. He was also a member of the Convention which framed the first State Constitution, in 1864, under which the Enabling Act was passed by both houses of Congress, but vetoed by Andrew Johnson. In 1864, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed Postmaster of Denver, and held the office two years, when, owing to the pressure of his numerous other duties, he resigned. In Feb- ruary, 1879, he was again tendered the unasked- for position of Postmaster, which he accepted and which he still holds. In no other city of similar population in the country is so much mail matter received and sent as in Denver, and in no other office in the country are the duties of the Post- master and his assistants so onerous and attended with so many difficulties and annoyances, owing to the unprecedented influx of transient popula- tion consequent upon the rich mineral discoveries during the past two years. Yet it is safe to say that in no other office is the same amount of matter distributed with equal accuracy and dis- patch, and to the convenience and entire satisfac- tion of the community. Mr. Byers was married in Muscatine, Iowa, in the fall of 1854, to Miss Elizabeth M. Sumner, of that city, and has two children. Mrs. Byers is descended on her father's side from the New England family of Sum- ners, of whom the eminent statesman, Charles Sumner, was a member. On her mother's side she is a grand-daughter of Gov. Lucas, at one time Governor of Ohio, and afterward the first Territorial and the first State Governor of Iowa.
LIBEUS BARNEY.
L Barney, one of the first settlers of Colorado, was born in Bennington, Vt., Aug. 13, 1829. Most of his boyhood was spent in New York City, where he was employed as a clerk in a dry-goods house. He came to Colorado in 1859, crossing the Plains in the first stage coach of the Denver & Pike's Peak Line, and for a number of years engaged in min- ing, but with indifferent success. Returning to Denver, he, in company with his brother, built one of the first frame houses ever occupied in Denver, in which house the first provisional Legislature of Colorado met. After farming for one year, four miles down the Platte, he came back to Denver and opened a grocery store, and also ran what was called the People's Theater. Of late years he has been engaged in building and improving his prop- erty in Denver, but has not been actively en- gaged in business.
HARRISON K. BUNCH.
H. K. Bunch, senior member of the firm of Bunch & Apple, was born in St. Louis, Mo., November 13, 1847. When eighteen years of age, he began the study of law with one of the leading firms of his native city, and was admitted to the bar in February, 187I. He immediately began the practice of law in St. Louis, where he soon attained a prominent position at the bar. In July, 1879, he came to Denver and opened a law and real estate office with Mr. Henry Apple. Mr. Bunch came to Denver recommended by some of the most prominent men of Missouri. His family were among the earliest settlers of St. Louis, and his father was at one time at the head of one of the largest importing houses of New Orleans. The firm of which Mr. Bunch is a member conducts a general real-estate and legal business, and is one of the most successful and reliable in the city.
SIMON BLOCK.
In order to escape being drafted into the Rus- sian Army, Simon Block fied from his own coun- try and sought protection under the Government
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of the United States. He was born in Russian Poland, and had received a fair education, his par- ents supplying him with means to pursue his studies until he had reached his twenty-first year. Entering upon a business career, he became profit- ably engaged in the grain trade, soon acquiring sufficient capital to invest in the purchase of a farm, which, however, the Russian Government confiscated on account of his open sympathy with his native land-oppressed and sorrowing Poland. A worse fate was in store for him-that of serv- ing in the ranks of the Russian Army, which he avoided only by leaving home and friends, and coming to the United States. In 1868, he came to Denver, and with the exception of a few years, when he was peddling through the State, has been a permanent resident of the city. In 1871, he built and occupied his present grocery store, in West Denver. Mr. Block has invested largely in real estate, which, together with his thriving gro- cery business, has placed him in very prosperous circumstances. He was married in Colorado in 1875, and resides with his family in a handsome residence in West Denver. He is a member of the Jewish Synagogue, and Vice President of its organization. He is also a Director of the Union Loan Association, and was Alderman in the City Council during the term of 1875-76, having been elected on the Republican ticket in a Democratic ward.
HON. SAMUEL E. BROWNE.
Mr. Browne was born May 12, 1822, in Franklin County, Penn. He received a collegiate educa- tion, graduating from Marshall College, Mercers- burg, Penn., in the Class of'39, after which he fol- lowed teaching for about three years. In the spring of 1843, he began the study of law with D. F. Robinson, but, in the fall of the same year, he removed to Springfield, Ohio, and resumed his studies in the office of Judge William A. Rogers, of that city. He was admitted to the bar June 7, 1845. In January, 1846, he removed to Van Wert, Ohio, and began the practice of his profes- sion ; remained, however, but a short time, after
which he removed to Delphos, Ohio. There he continued to practice until the fall of 1855, when he removed to Piqua, Miami Co., Ohio, and opened an office. In the winter of this year, he was elected official reporter of the Ohio Senate, and, in the fall of 1860, was elected to represent Miami County in the Legislature for the next two years. On the day the Legislature adjourned, in 1861, he was appointed Quartermaster of the Army of Ohio, under Gen. McClellan, and on the same day left for Marietta, Ohio, where he established Camp Putnam, a two-regiment post, and in a short time was ordered to take charge of the Commissary Department of that portion of the army. He had not remained there long, until he siezed the steamer Ohio, under orders, and carried the Fourteenth Ohio, commanded by Col. James Stedman, to Parkersburg, Va., took possession of that city in behalf of the Union forces, and then established Camp Jackson. This was the first invasion of any Southern State. Mr. Browne remained there until July, when he went to Washington, and was appointed Captain of the Seventeenth Regular Infantry by President Lincoln, but resigned his command in a short time to accept the position of Assistant Registrar, in the Treasury Department, with Mr. Chase, in which official capacity he signed the first $60,000,000 of Greenback currency, known as the demand notes. During the winter of 1861-62, he was the Government express mes- senger to convey money to the Federal armies, in which time he disbursed $15,000,000. On the 8th of April, 1862, on the recommendation of S. P. Chase, Caleb B. Smith, of the Interior Depart- ment, and Noah H. Swain, of the United States Supreme Court, he was appointed U. S. Attorney for Colorado. He came to Denver in May, 1862, and entered upon the duties of this office, in which he continued until the 1st of October, 1865, when his resignation, which had been sent in the previous May, was accepted. In the fall of 1864, the Indians seized upon the line of communication from the States to Denver, murdering and driving off all the settlers between Denver and Julesburg.
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