USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 54
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 54
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HON. JOHN EVANS.
Hon. John Evans, President of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad Company, and the second Territorial Governor of Colorado, was born of Quaker parents, in Warren County, Ohio, March 9, 1814. After pursuing a course of literary and scientific studies in the academies and seminaries of the neighborhood and in Philadelphia, Penn., he read medicine, and graduated in 1838 from the Medical Department of the Cincinnati College. After practicing medicine for a short time near Ottawa, Ill., he located as a physician in Attica, Ind. During his six years' residence in that place, he called the attention of the public, through the press and by means of lectures, to the necessity of the State's assuming the care of the insane. He
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delivered an address on the subject before the State Legislature, which resulted in the levying of a tax of one cent on every hundred dollars in value of the property of the State, for the erection of an asylum for the insane. This was accomplished during the financial depression of 1842-43, and the following year, Dr. Evans was appointed on a com- mission to secure the site and prepare plans for the present Hospital for the Insane near Indianapolis, and during the two or three succeeding years, superintended the erection of that institution. In the mean time, he was elected to a chair in Rush Medical College, which was just then organizing in Chicago, and during the winter of 1845-46, deliv- ered his first course of medical lectures in what is now one of the most prosperous and noted medical institutions in the country. Becoming interested in the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Jour- nal, he was, for several years, one of its editors. His duties as Professor in Rush Medical College occupied his time during the winter seasons, from 1845 until 1848, while his summers were passed in superintending the erectiou of the Indiana Hos- pital for the Insane; and on its completion, he resigned his position as Superintendent, and remov- ing his family to Chicago, became a permanent resident of that city. His connection with Rush Medieal College continued through a period of eleven years of intense labor, during which time he was prominently identified with many important enterprises in the city. As Chairman of the Com- mittee on Public Schools in the City Council in 1852-53, he introduced the ordinance for the appointment of the first Superintendent of Public Schools, the purchase of several lots, and the ercc- tion of the first High School building in the city. Probably the most prominent educational enter- prise with which he became connected was the Northwestern University, to which he donated the sum of $25,000, for the endowment of a chair of mental and moral philosophy. This institution is located at Evanston, which town was laid off by the Trustees of the University and named in honor of Dr. Evans. He has been elected President of
this Board each successive year to the present time, a period of twenty-eight years. When he went to Chicago his meaus were small, but by the purchase of large tracts of land, which afterward were em- braced within the rapidly increasing boundaries of the city, he acquired an ample fortune, which, by successive profitable investments, and a life of busi- ness activity and good management, has increased to one of the largest in Colorado. He was one of the projectors of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, of which he was Managing Director at the Chicago terminus for several years, and contin- ued as a Director of the Company until his removal to Colorado.
During the cholera epidemic of 1848, and suc- ceeding years, he was engaged in practicing medi- cine, and in 1849, published a monogram on the spread of the cholera, collating a vast amount of statistics showing that the course of the disease was from point to point along the lines of com- munication. In 1865, he memorialized Congress for the establishment of a national quarantine, quoting largely from the above-mentioned mono- gram. In 1855, he removed his family to Evans- ton, then a wilderness, and built one of the first houses in that now beautiful place, where he resided until his removal to Colorado. In the will of Mrs. Garret, founding the Garret Biblical Institute in Evanston, he was nominated one of the Trustees of that institution, and remained such for several years. Our space will not admit of enumerating the many public enterprises with which he was promi- nently identified in Chicago. He was there, as he has been in Colorado, a leader in many important movements, and contributed largely to the devel- opment of that flourishing and remarkable city. He was one of the Speakers at the first Republi- can Convention held in the United States. This Convention met in Aurora, Ill., and adopted the first Republican platform that gave the name to the party. He was a member of the State Con- vention of Illinois which first nominated Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, and took an active part in the political campaign of 1860,
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which resulted in Mr. Lincoln's election. In the early part of 1861, he carried on a controversy through the columns of the Chicago Evening Jour- nal with the Hon. Judge Scates, of Illinois, in which he advocated, thus early in the war, the emancipation of the Southern slaves, and their em- ployment as soldiers in the suppression of the re- bellion. This controversy attracted a large share of public attention, eliciting the comments of states- men throughout the country, the correctness of his position being fully vindicated by subsequent events. In the autumn of 1861, President Lin- colu, who was a warm personal friend, tendered him the Governorship of Washington Territory. This, however, he declined, and the following year was offered the position of Governor of Colorado Territory, which he accepted, and at once entered upon the duties of his office. Coming to Colo- rado during the exciting period of the civil war, among his first official acts was the enlistment of troops for the Union Army. The First Colorado Regiment and two or three surplus companies had already been recruited by his predecessor, Gov. William Gilpin. These surplus companies were consolidated with companies subsequently enlisted in the Second Regiment. The First Colorado Battery was also organized and put into the field by him, and the Third Regiment partially filled and consolidated with the Second mounted, and became the First and Second Regiments of Colo- rado cavalry. The honorable record of the sol- diers of Colorado has passed into history, and will never be forgotten.
In 1863, Gov. Evans was commissioned by the President to visit the Indians on the Plains at the head of the Republican River, but his overtures were rejected by the Indians, who refused to see him. In the fall of the same year, he gathered the Ute tribes at Conejos, where the Conejos Treaty was formed, which settled the Utes in a limited portion of the Gunnison Valley, east of the Uncompahgre and south of the Roaring Fork. After the battle of Sand Creek, the sympathy of the Eastern people induced the Government to
send for the Ute Chiefs to come to Washington, where a new treaty was negotiated, which enlarged the reservation into two degrees of longitude, ex- tending from the southern limits nearly to the northern boundary of the Territory. One of the prominent events of Gov. Evans' administration was the Indian war of 1864, during which the Third Colorado Cavalry was raised for the defense of the settlers, and several companies of militia organized and armed for home protection. In 1865, realizing that the attempt to civilize the Indians by making farmers of them must prove futile, as they would never take kindly to agricult- ural pursuits, he conceived and advocated a plau for their gradual civilization by distributing cattle, sheep and horses among them and inducing them to adopt the habits of pastoral life. In the ad- ministration of Territorial affairs he inculcated a strict economy, which, being carried out by suc- cessive Territorial and State Governments, has prevented the incurring of any considerable public debt. During his term of office, as thereafter, he encouraged and promoted the building of churches and schools, and was a liberal contributor to all re- ligious and educational enterprises, prominent among which was the Colorado Seminary, which had a successful career for a number of years, and is again being revived. Owing to misrepresenta- tions of the battle of Sand Creek, the vindictive persecution by a person whom he had frustrated in his attempts to defraud the United States Treas- ury, and a conspiracy to get his place by mis- representations, which gave a false account of his actions to the Committee on the Conduct of the War, that committee made a report against him. This he subsequently refuted, and was fully vindi- eated by the publication of his reply in the Con- gressional report of Senator Doolittle's Committee in 1865. But this defense came too late to prevent the conspiracy from succeeding. His resignation was requested by Andrew Johnson a few months before the expiration of the four years' term of office for which he was appointed. He retired, however, with the fullest respect and con-
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fidence of the people of the Territory, to whom his administration had been highly beneficial and satisfactory.
When the first State organization was effected, in 1865, he was elected, by the Legislature, to the United States Senate, and passed the winters of 1865-66 and 1866-67, in Washington. The State was admitted at both these sessions of Congress, and the bill vetoed by Andrew Johnson, on both occasions. In 1868, he was a member of the National Convention which nominated Gen. Grant for President, and, the same year, while at Washington, was elected President of the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company. Retir- ing from politics, he turned his attention to developing the resources of the Territory, and was mainly instrumental in securing the building of the first railroad within its boundaries. His con- nection with the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad bad given him an experience in railroad manage- ment which enabled him to render the Territory efficient service. During the session of Congress, in 1869, he procured the passage of the Denver Pacific Land Grant bill, the signing of which was one of the last official acts of President Johnson. Upon the announcement of the passage of the bill, Denver, for the first and last time in its history, was illuminated, and upon his return home, he was greeted, by the citizens, with a public reception. The Board of Trade presented him with a series of flattering resolutions, beautifully engrossed, in rec- ognition of his services to the city and Territory. By careful and prudent management, the extraor- dinary difficulties of building a railroad in a ter- ritory so sparsely settled and remotely situated, were overcome, and the road was completed from Cheyenne to Denver, in June, 1870, the driving of the last spike (a silver one) and the laying of the corner-stone of the depot, being celebrated with imposing civic and Masonic ceremonies. In 1872, with other citizens, he organized the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad Company of which he became President. From that time to the present, he and his associates have devoted them-
selves, through a period, until recently, of extra- ordinary financial depression, to the building of the road. They have maintained its credit through all the discouraging difficulties, and it is to-day one of the most successful railroad enterprises in the land. He is a leader in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, of which he became a member in 1843, while residing in Attica, Ind., and has been tbrice chosen Delegate to its General Conference. One of the most beautiful church edifices in the State, is the brown-stone chapel in Evans' Addition to Denver. It was erected by him to the memory of his daughter, wife of Hon. S. H. Elbert, Chief Justice of the State, and, with four lots on which it stands, was deeded, by Gov. Evans, to the Church. It was dedicated by Bishop Simpson to the worship of Almighty God, in 1878, and will continue a beautiful monument of parental affection and Christian devotion. Some years ago, he made an attempt to organize the University of Denver, which failed at the time, but the project. has recently been successfully revived, under the old charter of the Colorado Seminary. Dr. Moore, a leading educator of Cincinnati, has accepted the Presidency, and will soon enter upon the work in Denver. Gov. Evans, during his residence in Colorado, has been liberal and prominent in nearly every movement for the advancement of the mate- rial, social, educational and religious welfare of society, and whether in official, business or social life, is recognized as a genial, public-spirited, Christian gentleman.
HON. SAMUEL H. ELBERT.
Hon. Samuel H. Elbert, ex-Governor of Colo- rado, and now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, is a jurist of great ability, a leading citizen, and a gentleman of the highest character and social standing. Judge Elbert, or "Gov. Elbert," as he is more familiarly known, is a man whose personal appearance would attract attention in any gathering or company. Tall, dignified, commanding, and without a trace of effeminacy, his very presence suggests a man of
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affairs, and his long and active public life has demonstrated that in his case, at least, appearances are not deceptive. Judge Elbert is still in the prime of vigorous manhood, having been born in Logan County, Ohio, in 1833. He graduated at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1854, and soon after began the study of law at Dayton, in the same State, but emigrated to the then West soon after his admission to the bar. Subsequently, for some years, he practiced law with suecess in Iowa and Nebraska, and in the latter State began his politi- cal career by a successful candidacy for the Upper House of the Nebraska Legislature, in 1860. He was then, as now, a stalwart Republican, though not such a partisan as to lose the respect or confidence of his political opponents, by whom he has always been respected. In 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln Secretary of Colorado Territory, Hon. John Evans being at the same time ap- pointed Territorial Governor, as the successor of Hon. William Gilpin. The intimate friendship of Gov. Evans and Secretary Elbert was still further cemented by the marriage of the latter and Miss Josephine Evans, daughter of the Governor, which event took place in 1865. This happy union, however, was presently ended by the death of Mrs. Elbert, to the great grief of her loving husband and fond father, and Judge Elbert has never re- married. Upon the expiration of his four years' term as Secretary, Judge Elbert resumed the prac- tice of law in Denver, associating himself for that purpose with Hon. J. Q. Charles, and the firm during its continuance was considered one of the strongest in Colorado. Judge Elbert served in the Territorial Legislature of 1869, and, in 1872, was Chairman of the Republican Central Committee of the Territory. In 1873, he was appointed Govern- or of the Territory, upon petition of the citizens thereof, and discharged the duties of his office with signal ability and universal satisfaction for a time. Unhappily, however, the clamor of Washington politicians prevailed against the voice of the people of Colorado, and Gov. Elbert was superseded, after which he went abroad, where he spent a year or
more at the various capitals of Europe. In 1876, upon the admission of Colorado into the Union, Gov. Elbert was nominated by the Republican State Convention for one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, and elected by a large majority. In drawing for terms, he secured a six years' tenure, but three years of which have expired. He has just assumed the position of Chief Jus- tice, which he will hold until the end of his term. Besides his political and judicial service, Judge Elbert has taken an active interest in the develop- ment of Colorado's agricultural resources, serving several terms as President or Director of the State Industrial Association, under whose auspices the very successful annual fairs of the State have been held. He has also been a careful student of the science of irrigation, and is the author of an able treatise on the reclamation of the arid lands of the State. In brief, the best interests of Colorado, political, industrial and social, have always found in him a firm and effective advocate. During the canvass for a successor to Hon. J. B. Chaffee, in the United States Senate, the name of Judge Elbert was mentioned with much favor, but the choice fell upon another. Though not abounding in wealth, Judge Elbert has an independent fort- une, and behind his seeming reserve-easily pene- trated-his friends find him a large-hearted, open- handed, generous gentleman and genial companion.
FREDERICK J. EBERT.
Frederick J. Ebert, one of Denver's enter- prising pioneers, was born in Brunswick, Ger- many, January 27, 1822. He received a thorough preparatory education at the Gymnasium, after which he graduated with first honors from the Academy "Collegium. Carolinum "-a polytech- nie institution of high standing. He selected the science of forestry, one of which but little is known in this country at present, but which, some day, will transform the treeless plains of Colorado into a most beautiful country, adorned with forests of cultivated trees. In Germany this is a national science, and the Government employs
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a great many men in cultivating, superintending and surveying the forests which belong to the Gov- ernment; and only a certain percentage of the timber is allowed to be cut each year, so that the growth will supply the demand. In his twenty- fourth year, Mr. Ebert was examined by the Gov- ernment for the position of Forest Engineer, in which examination he received the degree of A, and was therefore commissioned and held this posi- tion up to the year 1850. At this time, the re-ac- tion, following the Revolution of 1848, had set in, and the country was in such an unsettled condi- tion that Mr. Ebert, with many of his friends who had advocated the cause and sympathized with the Revolutionists, thought best, perhaps for their per- sonal safety, and, at any rate, for their pecuniary interests, to emigrate to America. Accordingly, after a long sea voyage, accompanied by an attack of the small-pox, Mr. Ebert landed in New York City in June, 1850. He went to Milwaukee, Wis., where he remained about a year, familiarizing him- self with the English language and American cus- toms and habits. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., where he remained for about two years, following teaching here for a short time until he could secure a situation on an engineering corps, which he held while he remained there. He then went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was engaged on land and railroad surveys for about seven years. He mar- ried Miss Mary Davies, of that city, in December, 1855; and on the 1st of June, 1860, he started with an engineering corps to survey a railroad line' to Denver, which was the first railroad survey west of the Missouri River. When they reached the Republican River, at a point about one hundred and fifty miles from Denver, they came upon an Indian camp. The Indians at once called a coun- cil, to which they invited them, and there decided that their survey was "no good," as it would open up a new line of travel, and more white men would invade their hunting-grounds and pastures; there- fore they decided that the corps must leave at once, and as a recompense for the intrusion, the Indians would take their provisions, which they
proceeded to do, along with some of their clothing and arms. The engineers were also informed by a trader that the young Indian warriors had threat- ened to follow and murder them as they attempted to escape from their territory. This had a ten- dency to hurry them out, so they made the nearest point on the main line of travel (the Platte River road), a distance of seventy-five miles, in thirty-six hours, with ox teams ; and this without water and but two or three biscuits to eat, never stopping to sleep, and only occasionally permitting the cattle to graze for a short time. After reaching the line of travel, the party concluded to go to Denver, and there spend the winter, with the intention of re- turning to complete the survey the following spring. In December, 1860, Mr. Ebert arrived in Denver with neither provisions nor money. In a short time after his arrival, Mr. Loveland engaged him to make a survey from Denver to Central City via Golden, to determine the practicability of building a railroad between these points. This was the first survey for a railroad made in the Rocky Monn- tains. Spring came, but with it came the rebel- lion, and the company which had been formed to build the railroad across the Plains, being composed of Southern capitalists, abandoned the enterprise. The surveying corps was left with an incomplete survey on their hands, for which they received no remuneration whatever, and Mr. Ebert received nothing for the plats and plans he had furnished and the work he had done. In 1862, he prepared the first map of Colorado, and assisted Gen. John Pierce in making the first land survey of the Territory. He continued surveying until 1865, when he engaged in the stock and dairy business, a few miles from the city of Denver. This proved to be the happiest move of his life. Fortune favored him; and as he enjoyed the comforts of a bountiful country life, with health and a good income, as he often expressed it, a king could not have been happier. Here he lived until 1875, when he removed to Denver in order that his children might have the advantages of the schools. In 1873, he engaged in the banking business, in
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which he has since continued; by force of cir- cumstances, he was for a time interested in rail- roads, and is now engaged extensively in mining. His ambition now, however, is to return to his farm, where he hopes to enjoy the comforts of former days when he was truly happy and free from eare. He was President of the Exchange Bank from 1876 to 1878; was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1876, and is now a member of the Board of Regents of the State University.
HON. VICTOR A. ELLIOTT.
The Judge of the District Court of the Second Judicial District of Colorado, is a man whose amiable disposition, sterling honesty and good judgment, win for him the friendship and admiration of all who know him. Ile is a man of medium size, easy address, and with a keen dark eye, indicative of a careful student, and of firm convictions. On the beneh, he is courteous and kind, but knows no man, either attorney or client, beyond the boundaries of the law. His decisions are never hastily made, but, when given, he stands by them with an iron will. He is now in the prime and vigor of life; was born in Tioga, Tioga Co, Penn., July 23, 1839. By his own per- severing industry, he acquired a good academie education, by teaching and attending school alter- nately, and in the fall of 1860, entered the Uni- versity of Michigan, for the purpose of completing a law course; but in the summer of 1861, he gave up his studies, and, in response to the first call for volunteers, enlisted in the Eleventh Penn- sylvania Cavalry, where he served until the winter of 1861 and 1862, when he was elected by Com- pany B, of the One Hundred and First Pennsyl- vania Infantry, as their Captain, to which office he was duly commissioned. He was in the first I'en- insula campaign, with Gen. Mcclellan, until he contracted typhoid pneumonia from exposure in the Chickahominy Swamps, which disabled him for the service, and he received his discharge and returned home in September of 1862. He con-
tinued in poor health for about one year, but in the spring of 1863, had sufficiently recovered his health to permit him to accept the office of Super- intendent of Public Schools of his native county, to which position he was elected for a term of three years; but in August of 1864, he had so regained his health that he resigned this position, and again entered the army, as Major of the Two Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania Infantry, and remained in the service till the close of the war. Returning home, he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of office to which he had been elected. In 1866, he again resumed the study of law at Wellsboro, Penn., and was admitted to the bar in November, 1867. In the spring of 1868, he went to Omaha, Neb., and began the practice of his profession, remaining there until the spring of 1871, when he was compelled to remove from there on account of asthma. He returned to Pennsylvama, but it did not take him long to find out that he could not enjoy health there, and in January, 1873, he came to Denver, where he found a climate in which asthmaties could breathe with ease. He at once entered upon an active practice of his profession, continuing until the summer of 1876, when Colorado became a State, and he was unanimously nominated Judge of the Second Judicial District, to which office he was elected, and in which he still continues. In his home, Judge Elliott is domestic, and a good neighbor; in society, he is social and entertaining; in the State, he is a loyal eitizen; in his profession, while at the bar, he ranked high, and on the bench is universally respected; and in business, he is enterprising and prompt. It may fairly be pre- dicted for Judge Elliott. that he has just entered upon a life of public usefulness, for he has the ability, perseverance and integrity, which justly secure for him the confidence of the people.
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