USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 45
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 45
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RICHARD J. BRITTAIN.
Mr. R. J. Brittain was born in New York City September 18, 1850. Soon afterward, his par- ents settled in New Jersey. At the age of seven- teen, he served an apprenticeship with Thomas A. Edison, the world-renowned electrical inven- tor, after which he began the manufacture of electrical instruments in Newark, N. J., with a general office in New York City. He contin- ued the business until 1876, when he came to Colorado, and for a time was engaged in prospecting in the mountains. In the fall of 1876, he settled in Denver, and entered into partnership with J. H. Smith, as proprietor of the Novelty Manufact- uring Company. He was married, in Decem- ber, 1871, in the State of New Jersey.
GEORGE N. BILLINGS.
The senior member of the well-known firm of Billings & Stewart, dealers in all kinds of lumber, doors, sash, etc., besides being extensively engaged in contracting and building, is one of the pio- neers of this city and one of her enterpris- ing and industrious business men. He was born in Oswego, New York, August 19, 1836, and, after receiving a common-school education, learned the carpenter trade, at which he worked for a short time in his native town, after which, in 1853, he went to Belvidere, Ill., where he entered upon a clerkship, and continued the same for about two years. He then returned to his trade for about three years. In the spring of 1860, he crossed the Plains, and located at Denver, working at his trade for a short time, after which
he entered upon a clerkship for Woolworth & Mof- fat, continuing until the spring of 1868, when he was elected City Assessor for one year. On the expiration of the year, he engaged in contracting and building, which he has ever since continued. In 1872, he erected the planing-mill and sash and door factory which he is now operating in company with R. W. Stewart, with whom he formed a part- nership in 1877. Mr. Billings is a man of sterling qualities, and his enterprise and public spirit ren- der him"a valuable citizen.
SAMUEL M. BLACK.
S. M. Black was born in Erie County, Ohio, in 1853. Reared a farmer, it was but natural as well as wise for him to begin life for him- self by following in the footsteps of his father. When he was nineteen years of age, allured by the glowing reports of Colorado, he came here and located on Clear Creek, in Jefferson County, where he farmed about four years. He was married, in 1874, to Miss Mollie E. Darnall. In 1876, he left his farm in Jefferson County and bought a farm on the Platte, eighteen miles north of Denver, on which he moved and where he has since resided.
ANSELM H. BARKER.
On the 24th day of October, 1858, Mr. Barker, with a train of six teams and fifteen men, arrived on the present site of Denver, and, immediately after the organization of Auraria, built the first cabin ever erected in what is now the city of Denver. He was born in. Gallia County, Ohio, November 23, 1822. His father was a farmer, and the subject of this sketch received the usual educational advantages of a farmer's son, and had learned the trade of a blacksmith before he was nineteen years of age. He was married, in Wilkesville, Ohio, August 7, 1843, and soon after- ward removed to Berlin, Jackson County, of his native State, where he worked at his trade a short time, going from there to Fairfield, Iowa, and afterward to Indianola, Iowa. In the spring of
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1857, he removed to Plattsmouth, Neb., then only a village of a few small cahins, where he remained until coming to Colorado, in 1858. The first winter after arriving here, he went about two miles up the Platte, and located some placer claims just below the Spanish "Diggings." Here he spent the winter in mining, in which he was moderately successful. The following spring he went to Jackson Diggings, where Idaho Springs now stands, and from there to the Gregory lode, near the present site of Central.
He located some good claims in that locality, among others, one on the Gunnell Extension. He was elected Recorder of the Eureka District in the summer of 1859, and in the fall of the same year returned to Plattsmouth, Neb., from which place he brought his family to Colorado, in the spring of 1860. His son Lincoln, born in Den- ver the 7th of September, 1860, was one of the first children born in this city. In 1862, he moved on a ranche, on Clear Creek, where he followed farming for over five years, when he again returned to Denver and engaged in blacksmithing for a short time. Until July, 1868, he was engaged in prospect- ing near Georgetown, Colo., and in New Mex- ico, but at the expiration of that time returned to Denver, and, until the summer of 1870, was en- gaged in blacksmithing, and on the construction force of the Denver Pacific and the Kansas Pacific Railroads until they were completed to Denver. He has been engaged extensively in mining at Leadville, and is the owner of the "Total Eclipse" at that place, which bids fair to become a valuable piece of property. Mr. Barker has never aspired to public office, but has held a num- ber of offices at different times, and was Sergeant- at-Arms of the Colorado Constitutional Conven- tion in 1876.
F. ADOLPH BROCKER.
This gentleman was intimately connected with the early history of Denver, and participated with zeal in the advancement of its industrial and municipal affairs. He was born in Prussia, Ger-
many, although a descendant of French ancestry. Before attaining the age of manhood, he left his native country as an immigrant to the United States. Settling in St. Louis, Mo., he embarked in the grocery business, and directed his attention exclusively for several years to that branch of business, both in the wholesale and retail trade. In 1855, he removed to Leaven- worth, Kan., where he conducted business pros- perously for the next four years. He then removed to Denver, and immediately opened a grocery. Although the settlement was small, he, by close attention to business, established a pros- perous trade. He suffered in common with many other citizens of Denver by the disastrous fire of 1863, which destroyed a large portion of the town. Mr. Brocker transported his goods, for his busi- ness, over the Plains with his own teams, and managed his business economically until failing health compelled him to retire from active busi- ness life. He died in 1870 in St. Louis, Mo. He was married in Denver, February 10, 1863, to Amelia Gehrung, daughter of J. C. Gehrung.
JACOB N. BEST.
Mr. Best was born August 18, 1836, in Onta- rio, Canada, where he remained until he reached the years of manhood. He was educated in the common schools, and acquired a practical knowl- edge of the machinist's trade. In 1854, in com- pany with his brother, John E. Best, he opened a machine-shop and foundry in Durham County. Three years later, his brother died, when he assumed charge of the business, and continued the same until 1866. For the next three years, he was engaged in the mercantile business. In No- vember, 1870, after disposing of his business, he removed to the United States, and settled in Den- ver, where, departing from his accustomed line of business, he embarked in the sheep business, in which he was principally engaged until January, 1880. He then disposed of that business, and accepted the position of bailiff in the District Court of Denver. He was married, first, in
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Durham County, Canada, in 1863, and again in 1872, to the daughter of John Best, of Danville, Penn., and has a family of three children.
COL. ALBERT G. BOONE.
Col. Boone is now seventy-four years of age. He was born in Greensburg, Ky., on the Ohio River, and is the son of Jesse Boone, the eldest son of the renowned pioneer of Kentucky, Daniel Boone. Col. Boone is a fair representative of the hardy men who have, under great privations and danger, advanced the standard of civilization west of the Mississippi River. He has been in the service of the United States, in various positions of great responsibility on the frontier, for fully half of a century, intrusted with important duties as an Indian Agent, Commissioner to treat with the wild tribes of the Plains, and as a disbursing officer of the Government, in all of which stations he was distinguished for his intelligence, fidelity and rare ability as an officer. Col. Boone possesses all the simplicity of character and manners which marked his honored grandsire, mingled with nn- surpassed courage in danger, and manly integrity in all his transactions with the Government and his fellow-men. No man in the West is more be- loved for his noble qualities than Col. Boone; and indeed it may be well said of him, that true as he has ever been to his duty as a citizen and a pub- lic servant, and in all his relations in private life, he stands out as a model for the rising generation, a man without stain or blemish, " without fear and without reproach."
WILLIAM H. BUCHTEL, M. D.
Dr. W. H. Buchtel, one of Denver's successful and skillful physicians, whose father and grand- father were physicians before him, was born in Akron, Ohio, August 15, 1845, and at an early day removed with his parents to South Bend, Ind. After attending the public schools, he pursued a course of study at the "Northern Indi- ana College" of that city, and began the study of medicine with Prof. N. S. Davis, President of the
Chicago Medical College, in April, 1860. He passed his final examination in the spring of 1864, receiving certificates from the Professor, but could not take his degree until he was of age. In the mean time, he had been resident physician in Mercy Hospital, Chicago, for two and a half years. As soon as he had completed his course, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and was, in April, 1864, examined for fourteen days by the U. S. Examin- ing Board, and commissioned Second Assistant Surgeon of U. S. Volunteers, and ordered to Louisville, where he was on duty for a short time, in the Totten General Hospital, after which he spenta short time in the hospitals of Chattanooga. In August, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of Surgeon in the Department of Military Railroads, and ordered to join Sherman's army, then at Resaca, near Kenesaw Mountain. He accom- panied Sherman to Atlanta, and was present at the siege and capture of that city. He remained in Atlanta until the 15th of November, going thence to Savannah, Ga., via Baltimore, and from there to Newbern, N. C., where he was appointed Chief Surgeon of Military Railroads of the Department of North Carolina, ou the 5th of February, 1865, and made his headquarters at Newbern, until the close of the war. Resigning his commission September 1, 1865, he at once returned to his home in South Bend, Ind., taking charge of his father's practice. In the spring of 1871, in consequence of hemorrhages, he was obliged to leave a large and remunerative practice and come to Colorado. He located in Denver, and was in active practice until the fall of 1875, when ill health compelled him to seek a higher altitude. He therefore purchased a ranche of twenty-one hundred acres, now known as Spring Cliff Ranche, on the divide in Douglas County, where he has since resided during the summer season, spending the winters in Denver. He has given considerable attention to raising fine horses and cattle. He has always been a close student of his profession, and, having recovered his health, he has returned permanently to Denver, and engaged
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in active practice. He makes a specialty of treat- ing the diseases of women, in which he has been eminently successful. He is married to Helen M. Barnum, daughter of the Hon. P. T. Barnum, of Bridgeport, Conn.
B. H. BAYLES.
Mr. Bayles is one of Denver's best and most enterprising business men. He was born in Adrian, Mich., July 3, 1843, and received a moderate education. In 1858, he entered upon a clerkship in one of the drug stores of his native town, continuing there for some years, after which he went to Toledo, Ohio, and there entered a drug house as clerk for about one year. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., where he entered upon a clerkship and continued in the same until after the close of the war, when he went to Pleasant Hill, Mo., and engaged in the furniture business, continuing up to 1870, when he came to Denver and continued the same business, and he is now the owner and proprietor of one of the largest furniture houses in Colorado. Mr. Bayles gives his personal attention to his business, in which he is thoroughly posted, and, being a man of strict integrity and perseverance, he has ever met with merited success. He is public spirited, and in every respect one of Denver's best representative' citizens.
GARDNER G. BREWER.
Gardner G. Brewer, of the well-known firm of Greenleaf & Brewer, was born in Boston, Mass., October 16, 1834. He graduated in the Bos- ton grammar schools, and for a number of years was with his father engaged in the fancy- goods business in his native city. In 1860, when the glowing accounts of great Colorado mineral wealth were first heralded through the States, Mr. Brewer, in company with his present partner, was one of the first to turn his face toward Pike's Peak, exchanging his pleasant city home for a frontier life. After traveling considerably through the State in search for a permanent location, Messrs. Greenleaf & Brewer located in Denver,
and went into a general mercantile business, which they continued for some time, but have gradually worked themselves into a large trade, making a specialty in toys and fancy goods, which they whole- sale and retail. Mr. Brewer is a modest, unas- suming business man, who is known to be a man of sterling honesty, and in every respect a good cit- izen. He is a faithful and ardent Freemason, and was the Worshipful Master of Denver Lodge, No. 5, for three successive years, from 1870 to 1872.
ALBERT BROWN.
Mr. Brown is one of Denver's most enterprising and popular business men, and, like so many of our Western men, owes his success to his own perseverance and industry. He was born in Mid- dlesex County, N. J., July 21, 1842. He was raised on a farm, and acquired a moderate educa- tion. His first adventure from home was in 1860, when he took a trip to the West India Islands, remaining there for about one year, after which he returned home and entered upon an apprentice- ship to learn the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for a number of years, a part of the time in the employ of the Government. He was en- gaged for one year on the construction of the Government Prison, on Hart's Island, New York, for the confinement of rebel prisoners. In the spring of 1865, he went to Brooklyn, L. I., and engaged in contracting and building in that city, up to the spring of 1870. He then came to Den- ver, and engaged in the same business for about four years, during which time he constructed many of the business blocks and private dwellings of this city, as well as of Golden. In 1874, Mr. Brown opened an undertaking house in this city, which was the first exclusive establishment of the kind in the State; he has pushed this busi- ness almost to perfection. He has as finely fur- nished an office and as convenient rooms as any undertaker, perhaps, in the Union. He has a branch house in Leadville ; wholesales goods exten- sively to other undertakers of the State. He is the only undertaker in the State who owns his
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own carriages and horses, and who is thoroughly equipped in every respect for carrying on this par- ticular business. Mr. Brown was for two years elected to the City Council from the Fifth Ward on the Democratic ticket, notwithstanding the fact that the ward gives a Republican majority. He was also a member of the School Board for two years, during which time he was a faithful worker for the cause of education and our school system. Mr. Brown is public spirited and enterprising, always giving his influence and his means to all charities of a deserving nature. Prompt, ener- getic and in every respect reliable, he is one of Denver's best citizens and business men.
THOMAS E. BLISS, D. D.,
Pastor of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, of Denver, was born in Brimfield, Hampden Co., Mass., November 25, 1824. He was the son of a well-to-do farmer and received the usual advan- tages of a farmer's son. At the age of seventeen, he prepared himself for college at Munson Acad- emy and graduated with one of the highest honors of his class, at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1848. The ensuing autumn he entered Andover Theological Seminary, the oldest institu- tion of its kind in this country, and completed the full course of three years, in 1851. He was imme- diately called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church at North Middleboro, Plymouth Co., Mass., which charge he held until, in 1855, he was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church of Blackstone, Worcester County. While there, he was for five years local correspondent and weekly contributor to the Boston Congregationalist, the principal paper of that denomination. In this connection it may be proper to add that he has had a great deal of editorial experience and enjoys an enviable reputation as a newspaper correspondent and contributor. In the spring of 1861, he was especially active in raising Company K, Fif- teenth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry for the war, and was offered a field officer's commission to enter the service. This, owing to the peculiar
circumstances in which he was then placed, he felt compelled to decline, but continued to render faithful service at home and at the front duriug the war. He was married during his first pasto- rate to Miss Lucinda H. Crane, of Schenectady, N. Y .. On account of her ill health, he resigned his charge at Blackstone in the fall of 186I, and spent the winter in New York City. The following spring, he accepted a pastoral charge at Hancock, Mich., on Lake Superior, a region then supposed to be peculiarly favorable to pulmo- nary complaints; but the death of his wife and two beautiful children within six months, in 1863, rendered it advisable that a change be made, and with regret he parted with the kind people of Han- cock, and accepted a position as agent for the Home Missionary Society for the State of Missouri. In February, 1864, he was directed by the Board at New York to visit Memphis, Tenn., and afterward New Orleans, which visits led to the organization of Northern churches in both of those cities, and to the acceptance by Dr. Bliss of a call to the Memphis pastorate in May, 1864. The six following years were spent in Memphis, during which he passed through some of the most excit- ing scenes of his life. The riot of 1865, during which the lives of all Northern men were endan- gered, was followed successively by the ravages of the smallpox in 1865, the cholera in 1866, and the yellow fever in 1867, through all of which he passed with the same unswerving fidelity which has marked his entire life. Once, and only once, at the time of the riot, did he deem it necessary to go armed, and then in the Court House sur- rounded by the rabble, he preached a denunciatory sermon to a band of faithful followers who, like himself, were armed and prepared to defend with their lives the principles of a free pulpit in a free country. On the 23d of April, 1865, he delivered a discourse on the "Life and Character of Abra- ham Lincoln," which, by request of citizens of Memphis, was published and widely distributed In the fall of 1866, he delivered an address on "Popular Education Indispensable to the Life of
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a Republie," in the hall of the House of Repre- sentatives, at Nashville, before a convention to advance the cause of popular education. By request of the members of the State Legislature, the address was published, and was said to have been instrumental in securing the passage of the educational bill which was passed at the same meeting of the Legislature then in session. The law went into effect and worked well for a time ; but a strong effort being made to repeal it, Dr. Bliss was again called upon to defend it, and, in an address, delivered August 19, 1869, before the State Teachers' Association in convention at Look- out Mountain, he advocated "Not only the cause of popular education, but of the highest and best efficiency of that system of education adopted by law in the State of Tennessee." At the dedica- tion of the National Cemetery at Memphis, he was chosen orator of the day, and in a memorable address to the 17,000 dead, and the 10,000 living there assembled, gained for himself the applause of even those who had differed with him in the principles for which our country was then strug- gling. Indeed, such was the esteem his firm defense of the principles of popular education and a free pulpit had won for him among the warm-hearted people of Tennessee, that when he was called to leave Memphis the ministers of the different churches voluntarily united in a com- mendatory letter, expressive of the high esteem and confidence in which he was held, and their best wishes for his future welfare wherever his lot might be cast. In 1865, he was married to his second wife, Miss Frances Rowley, of Philadel- phia, Penn. After leaving Memphis, he spent a few months in New England, and then came with his family to Denver to take charge of the First Congregational Church, of which he continued the Pastor for two years. At the close of that connection, a new church enterprise was formed to which he was called, and which, with its Pastor, was soon after received into the Presbytery of the State of Colorado, and is now known as St. Paul's Presbyterian Church of Denver. In 1878, the
Board of Trustees of his Alma Mater, Mount Union College, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He has been sev- eral times elected Moderator of the Presbytery, and in his connection with the religious and educa- tional interests of Colorado, and as an active, effi- eient temperanee worker, Dr. Bliss is, perhaps, as well known as any man in the State.
GEORGE W. BELCHER.
A prominent ranche-owner and cattleman in this State, residing near Littleton, is Mr. Belcher. He has had quite a stirring career, being a veteran of the late war, an ex-prisoner of those noted prison- pens of the confederacy, Belle Isle, Salisbury, N. C., and the famous Libby Prison. Has had his fight also with the redskins, and made the journey across the Plains in the good old-fashioned way. A native of Gibson, Penn., and dating his birth- days from February 28, 1838, this gentleman's eventful life has witnessed much of the wonderful growth, development and onward stride toward greatness of this wonderful empire of the West! He is also a firm believer in those grand principles, upon whose stable support the integrity of the Republic rests. Until the outbreak of the war, he resided on a farm ; he then enrolled himself among the volunteers of the Keystone State, being in Company K, of the Sixth Infantry. In Decem- ber, 1863, he was discharged, but re-enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Ninety-first Regi- ment, and was taken prisoner at Petersburg, Va., August 16, 1864, and was paroled March 1, 1865, Mr. Belcher participated in the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Pe- tersburg, and under Grant in the battles of the Wilderness. After leaving the army, he returned to Pennsylvania and remained for a short time. In the summer of 1867, he came to Colorado, having on the journey a brush with the Indians on the Bijou, who tried to run off some of the stock belonging to the emigrant train, but were defeated, the whites losing one man and the Indians several. Mr. Belcher located on his brother's
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ranche, and devoted himself to farming and stock raising in Jefferson County. In the fall of 1869, he removed to Littleton, invested in real estate, and has made that place his permanent home.
DR. R. H. BOIIN.
Dr. R. H. Bohn, the well-known and popular surgeon dentist, like so many of Denver's promi- nent citizens, is of foreign birth, having been born in the famous old city of Cologne, Prussia, Jan- uary 9, 1844. When eight years of age, in 1852, his family emigrated to America, making New York City their home in the New World. Dr. Bohn graduated at the high school of the metrop- olis, after which he worked at the jewelry business with his father for two years, and then entered the dental office of Royer & Straw, at Newburgh, N. Y. He was with this firm for three years. In 1861, the war having com- menced, he enlisted in the Nineteenth New York militia, and was in the service three months. Then, returning to his home, he raised part of a company, and was commissioned First Lieutenant of Company B, One Hundred and Sixty-Sixth New York Volunteers. This regiment was after- ward consolidated with the One Hundred and Seventy-Sixth Ironsides Regiment, and was in Gen. Banks' expedition. He served out his nine months and returned to New York City, where he commenced the practice of dentistry in company with Dr. W. A. Bronson, the copartnership lasting from 1864 till 1869, after which he practiced alone until 1872. At this time, Dr. Bohn removed to Denver, opened an office in this city, and has remained here engaged in the practice of his pro- fession.
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