USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 80
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 80
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crowd of Pike's Peak gold-seekers and came to Colorado. He outfitted near Burlington, Iowa, the party consisting of five, with a fonr-horse team and an extra horse. But one of the party besides himself is now living in the State. The journey of 900 miles occupied but five wecks. Arriving in Denver June 5, he went at once to the mountains, and engaged in mining in the Hawkeye District, in the town of Wide Awake, near Central. He continued mining four years, and then returned East and engaged in freighting between the Missouri River and the mountains. Although the Indians were very troublesome at that time, he escaped without loss for the entire year. Since 1866, he has directed his attention to gardening, his garden being three times as large as any other in Colorado. He has two acres under glass in Denver, and a farm of eighty acres three miles down the Platte, mostly devoted to gardening purposes. He ships large quantities of vegetables to all parts of the State and along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming. He was married in Denver, in October, 1861, to Miss Susan Horne, and has six sons.
JAMES M. SWEM.
The business of the Transfer Companies of Denver involves considerable capital, the employ- ment of a large number of persons, and executive ability of a very high order in those who success- fully direct their management. In view of his large interest in this important industry, and his past honorable record as a citizen, and a soldier in the Union army, the reader is invited to peruse a brief sketch of James M. Swem. He was born in Indiana, and brought up on a farm with his parents, with whom he remained until his seventeenth year, attending school, and assisting at work when his services were needed. When he was old and strong enough to shoulder a musket, he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-fifth Iowa Volunteers, Col. S. J. Hill commanding, and participated with his comrades in all the dangers and privations to which that gallant regiment was
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subjected during the last fonr years of the civil war. At Vicksburg, under Grant; at the siege of Jackson, Miss .; at Champion Hill and Black River ; in the famous Red River campaign, and again in Mississippi, at Old River Lake, when Marmaduke had blockaded the Mississippi River in 1864; at Tupelo, and in the campaign that re- sulted in the annihilation of Price's army; at Nash- ville, in the fight with Hood's army; to New Or- leans and Fort Morgan, in Mobile Bay, and thence to Montgomery, Ala. James Swem marched in his regiment, shirking no duty in the eamp or on the field of battle. He was wounded twice, in the expedition up Red River, and again at Tupelo, Miss. For several years after the close of the war Mr. Swem had no settled occupation, but during that period he was married, in Iowa, in 1866, to a very estimable lady of that State. In 1872, he removed to Denver, and engaged in the express business, but in the following winter he lost his wagons and horses by fire, and was compelled to seek some other occupation. He tried a hay ranche in the South Park, but owing to the ill health of his family, abandoned that pursuit, and returned to Denver. During the winter of 1873, he sought employment in various lines of business, struggling for a maintenance for his family, and in the summer of 1874, commenced with one team, which he drove himself, to hanl freight from the railroads, carefully husbanding his earnings and so- liciting patronage, until he was able to hire other teams to assist him in his constantly increasing business. From one team and driver, it has be- come twelve teams owned by himself, and four more which he hires, while twenty-six persons arc now employed by him, such as drivers, clerks, ete. From comparative poverty, he has worked himself into a position of independence, in the financial sense, and has challenged the hearty respect and admiration of the citizens of Denver for the pluck that has carried him through all his troubles, and bronght him to the lead of business in the trans- fer of freight. Mr. Swem is a Republican in poli- tics, liberal in his religious views, and, thanks to
his indomitable energy and industry, enjoying the possession of ample means to extend his business as far as prudence may suggest, or necessity re- quire.
THOMAS R. SEARLE.
Thomas R. Searle was born in Oxfordshire, England, April 12, 1821. He was engaged in business in London until 1849, when he came to the United States, locating in Philadelphia, where he engaged in different branches of the mercantile trade, and was agent for the Anchor National Line of stcamers, besides engaging extensively in . oil speculations, at which he amassed a considerable fortune. In 1871, he went to Salt Lake City, re- maining a year, and then went to Nevada, where he engaged extensively in mining for six years. He came to Denver for his health in 1877, pur- chased a farm four miles from town, on which he built a fine house, and otherwise improved it, until he has one of the finest farms in the county. He has planted a fine orchard of fruit-trees, and is preparing to set out several thousand shade and ornamental trees next season. Mr. Searle has ex- perienced all the ups and downs of an active busi- ness career, and is now content to enjoy the fruits of his years of toil and excitement.
JAMES W. SULLIVAN.
J. W. Sullivan, proprietor of the Clifton Ilouse, first came to Denver in 1860. He was born in Wash- tenaw County, Mich., May 10, 1838. He was raised on a farm, and in 1856 began railroading as an em- ploye of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, and in 1859 became a locomotive engineer on that road. In 1860, allured by the reports of the dicovery of gold at Pike's Peak, he started across the Plains, driving three yoke of oxen. He ar- rived at Denver May 1, and soon went over into the South Park, and began mining in the Tarryall Mining District. After a short time, he returned East and entered the employ of the Chicago, Bnr- lington & Quincy Railroad Company, running an engine from Galesburg to Peoria, Ill. In July, 1861, he returned to the Michigan Central Rail-
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road, and continued with that road, on their leased line, the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago, until 1870, being employed seven years as Roadmaster. After acting six months as Roadmaster of the Vandalia Road, he went West as Roadmaster of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. About a year later, he went East and had charge as Roadmaster of the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad. In 1874, he came permanently to Colorado and began mining and contracting railroad supplies, in Boulder County. In December, 1878, he purchased the Clifton House, in Denver, of which he assumed the active management in July, 1879. His genial manner and close attention to all the details of the management of the house, and to the comfort of the guests, render the Clifton the favorite resort of a large number of visitors to the city.
E. B. SLEETH.
Mr. Sleeth, of the firm of Sleeth & Stair, attor -* neys at law, Denver, was born in Shelbyville, Ind., August 31, 1842, and removed with his parents, when quite young, to Watseka, Ill. In April, 1861, at the very outbreak of the civil war, he entered the Union army as a member of Company I, Twenti- eth Illinois Volunteers, and served four years in the Army of the Tennessee, participating in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, where he was wounded, and the siege and capture of Vicksburg. He was wounded at the last-named place also, and still carries the bullet in his body. He was in all the engagements under Sherman, from Chatta- nooga to Atlanta, and after the fall of that city, he returned to Watseka, and was elected Sheriff of Iroquois County, which position he held and the duties of which he discharged with signal ability, for two years. He then went to Chicago and entered the Law Department of Douglas Uni- versity, where he graduated in 1869. After prac- ticing in Watseka one year, he removed to Denver in 1871, and became associated with the Hon. H. P. H. Bromwell, in the practice of law. This partnership existed for six years, after which he practiced alone for two years. In July, 1879, he
formed a partnership with Milton J. Stair, of La Fayette, Ind., which still continues. While living in Illinois, he was a member of the Board of County Commissioners, for three years, and re- signed the office to come to Colorado. He was elected City Attorney of Denver in 1878, and still acts in that capacity. Mr. Sleeth was mar- ried, in February, 1863, to Miss Elenor Risley, of Watseka, III.
JOHN S. STANGER.
Although agriculture in Colorado is yet com- paratively in its infancy, and vast tracts of rich farming land are still unoccupied, awaiting the construction of irrigating facilities, yet even now it forms a most important industry, while the pastoral interests rank next to the mineral as a source of wealth, and, as the mineral, manufacturing, and mercantile interests are still farther developed, thus bringing to the State larger numbers of all classes of people, the importance of stock-growing aud farming will be largely augmented. Whoever, therefore, labors to advance these interests, either by cultivating the soil, or diffusing useful knowl- edge among the rural population of the State, is to be accounted a public benefactor. John S. Stanger has become widely known throughout Colorado and the West, as the editor and publisher of the Colorado Farmer, one of the best papers of its class in the United States, as well as by the active interest he takes in rural matters in all parts of the State. Mr. Stanger is a native of Western Penn- sylvania, and was educated in Allegheny College, at Meadville, Penn. In the war of the rebellion' he served in the Twelfth and One Hundredth Reg- iments Pennsylvania Volunteers, rising from pri- vate to the rank of Captain. Resiguiug his com- mission in the army, by reason of physical disabil- ity, he removed to Northern Illinois, and eugaged in farming, and the breeding of sheep and fine cat- tle. He continued in this until 1875, when he came with his family to Colorado, and the following spring, purchased the Colorado Farmer, and has ever since devoted his time and talents to advan- cing the agricultural interests of the State. The
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publication of an agricultural paper in Colorado had hitherto been an experiment, and a very un- fortunate one. The agricultural interests were not considered worth the fostering care of the State, nor the recognition of aspirants for public favor. He put the paper upon a paying basis, compelled the recognition of the farming community in public measures, and by public men, and has made the Colorado Farmer such a success that it is regarded as authority throughout the West and the East, on all matters pertaining to rural life in Colorado. Mr. Stanger knows, personally, two-thirds of the farmers of the State, who place the utmost confidence in his friendship and good judgment. In May, 1878, he was appointed a member of the State Board of Agriculture, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of John Armour, and has been an active, efficient member of the Board.
THOMAS P. SHROCK.
As early as 1849, the subject of this sketch left home and became a pioneer of the West, first traveling across the Plains, passing through the different tribes of Indians and over the mount- ain range into California. Subsequently, he returned to Colorado, and is one of the old pio- neers of the Territory who still reside in this city. He was born in Lexington, Ky., May 28, 1816. He spent his early life there until twenty years of age, when he was married to Miss Rebecca W. Ford, of Georgetown, Ky. In 1841, he removed with his family-one child three years old, John W. Shrock, who is now a resident of Denver-to Independence, Mo. In 1849, he left Independence in company with his father-in-law, Capt. William Ford, of Georgetown, Ky., and Lewis Jones, of Independence, Mo .- the latter an old Santa Fe trader-for California. The first hostile Indians they met on the way were the Pawnees. Passing them in safety, they came to the Arapahoes and Apaches, who were quite bold and threatening, but they passed without serious trouble; then through the Cheyennes, Shoshones, Crows, Root Diggers and others to Fort
Brigger ; thence to Salt Lake. The Mormons were very bold and insulting. Passing on by the Truckee route, as it was then called, down the Humboldt, or " Sink of Many Rivers," where, Capt. Ford being attacked with the scurvy, and growing worse, they concluded to leave their train and go into California on horseback, a dis- tance of 300 miles, a lonely and perilous trip. They went through without much trouble, but Capt. Ford died a few weeks afterward. Mr. Shrock remained there until the fall of 1850, when he returned East by the way of the Nicar- agna ronte, as it was then called, in Central America. After crossing Lake Leon, he went down the St. John's River to Greytown, in the Mosquito Kingdom; thence across the Carib- bean Sea down to the Isthmus of Darien ; thence across the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans; and thence up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, and by stage to Independence. He brought back sev- eral pounds of gold-dust from California. He remained at Independence, following his trade of brick-laying and contracting until 1861, when he concluded to accompany his son to Colorado, who had made a trip the year before to the mountains, on account of his health, and returned the same fall. In the spring, he and his son loaded five wagons with groceries, dry goods and miners' sup- plies, and started on the Arkansas route. At Fort Leonard, they found four or five thousand Arapa- hoe and Cheyenne Indians awaiting the arrival of Col. Boone, to receive their annuity or presents. The Indians were getting impatient and gave them some trouble. Next, coming up into the Ute country, they made the acquaintance of Colorow, and traded with the Utes for some robes and furs. Arriving at Independence, now Pueblo, they found two adobe houses, the only houses there. Going up into the South Park, they located at Tarryall and Hamilton, where he built a storeroom and sold dry goods, groceries and liquors. While there, in 1861, they received a visit from Capt. Richard Sopris, who was obtaining recruits and purchasing arms for the Government service, by order of Gov.
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Ochmund A Willoughby
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Gilpin. In the fall, leaving his son in charge of the store, he returned to Independence, Mo., intending to return again with a fresh supply of goods, but the commotion of the rebellion com- pelled him to remain until 1864, when he out- fitted and started again for Colorado. Upon reaching Fort Kearney, he learned of the depre- dations of the Indians, and from there through, they experienced continual excitement and trouble, reaching Denver in safety, at the end of seven weeks, after which he took his family and goods to Black Hawk, and purchasing a suitable storeroom, opened business, in which he met with good suc- ces. His son, John Shrock, was at that time a member of Capt. C. M. Taylor's Indian vanguard. He and his son also engaged in building at that place. They built the furnaces for Mr. James Lyon, in the Black Hawk Smelting Works, at $8 per day, each. Afterward, they came to Denver and worked on the Catholic Convent, at $10 per day. In May, 1867, having sold out his business in Black Hawk, he removed to Denver and fol- lowed his trade until 1876, during which time he built a brick cottage on Welton street and his present residence on the corner of Welton and Seventeenth streets. About 1872, he and his family, in company with his son and family, went East on a visit for the first time since they re- moved to Colorado, and spent the winter in travel- ing in the Eastern States.
JOHN SINCLAIR.
Mr. Sinclair is of Scottish descent. He was born in Burlington County, N. J., in 1841. His first experience, as a business man, was with the firm of Mead, Randolph & Co., of Brooklyn, N. Y., with whom he remained four years, as leading salesman, giving perfect satisfaction. He then connected himself with the house of S. J. Sher- man, also of Brooklyn, with whom he remained three years, and then entered the employ of Lord & Taylor, corner of Twentieth and Broadway, New York, remaining with that firm two years ; at each move being advanced to a higher position.
After this he removed to Chicago, and remained there one year ; and then came to Denver, Colo., where for six years he was connected with the popular merchant tailoring establishment of Jed H. Bascom, as leading salesman and manager. Mr. Sinclair has, by successfully competing with Eastern houses, kept the shirt and tailoring busi- ness of Colorado within its own limits, even in quality and prices. Mr. Sinclair, senior partner of the firm of John Sinclair & Co., has recently purchased Mr. Bascom's entire stock, and, with the assistance of his many friends, and the good will of all, intends to carry on business so that it will become a source of pride to himself and partners, and the city of Denver. He was mar- ried, February 26, 1874, to Miss Anna B., dangh- ter of Archie Antonides, of Redbank, N. Y.
THOMAS SKERRITT.
Mr. Skerritt was born in Kings County, Ireland, August 16, 1828, where he remained until his twentieth year, when he came to America, in company with his uncle, going at once to his father's home in Michigan, whither his father had emigrated several years before, leaving him, then a lad of seven years, in the care of his uncle, in Ireland. After spending a year in Michigan, he went to Canada and began life for himself. After engaging in farming for six years, he returned to Michigan, and shortly afterward went to Chicago. While in Michigan, he was married to Miss Mary K. Skerritt, and at present has a family of eight children, all born in Colorado. Leaving Chicago, September, 1858, he started West, traveling across the country in a wagon, stopping at Leavenworth, Kan., where he remained until April, 1859, and thence, in company with his wife, came to Pike's Peak. Arriving in June, 1859, he went to Central City, his wife being the second white woman in that place. Shortly afterward, he went over the range to Breckenridge, accompanied by his wife, who was among the first white women to cross the mountain range. In the fall of 1859, he returned to the Platte River, and pre-empted a
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claim, the present site of the Harvest Queen Mill, and, having settled upon it, was engaged in reclaim- ing and cultivating the same until the great flood of 1864, which destroyed his crops, and swept away the greater portion of his tillable land. Having sold what was left of his land to Peter Magnus, he settled upon his present farm, abont six miles from Denver, where he has since resided, and, by his industry, and the improvement of his farm of two hundred acres-notwithstanding the ravages of the grasshoppers, from which he, in common with all the other farmers of Colorado, has suffered, at various times-has established himself as one of the reasonably prosperous farmers of the fine agricultural region of the Platte Valley.
JOHN G. SMITH.
John G. Smith, of Denver, Colo., was born in Bristol, Sullivan Co., Tenn., January 4, 1848, and remained there until the age of eighteen, when he served an apprenticeship of three years at the car- penter's trade. He began business in partnership with G. H. Barnhart, and continued the same until he came to Denver, in April, 1872. He worked at his trade until March, 1877, when he bought the business of Avery Gallup, and carried on business under the firm name of J. G. Smith & Co., until 1879, when he dissolved partnership, and has since continned the business, as manufact- urer of show cases and picture frames.
J. W. SANDERSON.
J. W. Sanderson, the representative of the " White Shuttle Sewing Machine," for this State, was born in Phillipston, Worcester Co., Mass., Jan- uary 12, 1850. His early life was spent in school until about seventeen years of age, when he was obliged, from failing bealth, to give up study. He followed sea life from that time until twenty years of age, after which he learned the carpenter's trade and followed the same for six years, two years of which he spent in Salem, Mass., three years in Worcester, removing thence to Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, where he resided one year.
In 1876, he came to Denver, and took charge of the White Sewing Machine Company's office in this city. Although introdueing a new inachine, he has been successful in establishing a large busi- ness. The machine is manufactured at Cleveland, Ohio, from which city about fifteen hundred are sent out weekly, to supply the trade. He was married, in Denver, to Mrs. H. A. Lawson, March 28, 1878.
JOSEPH H. SMITH.
Mr. J. H. Smith, of the firm of Smith & Brit- tain, proprietors of the Novelty Manufacturing Company, was born in Taylorsville, Johnson Co., Tenn., June 20, 1844, where he remained until the opening of the war. Early in 1862, he en- listed in Company F, Second Tennessee Infantry. His terms of service having expired, in the fall of 1863, he again entered the service with the sutler of the Thirteenth Regiment Tennessee Cavalry, under Col. Carter, and was mustered out in July, 1864, after which he went to Knoxville, Tenn., and clerked in a store until the winter of 1867. Returning to Taylorsville, he was engaged in the mercantile business until September, 1872. He then removed to Denver, Colo., and engaged in the hotel business, having purchased the Williams House. In January, 1873, he sold out and went into the mountains, engaging in the commission business until January, 1874, when he took a con- tract for taking the census of the city of Denver. He afterward purchased the Novelty Manufactur- ing Company, and continued the business until the fall of 1878, when R. J. Brittain became a partner in the firm. His leading business is manu- facturing hotel and house annunciators, electro- medical apparatus and telegraph supplies, also the manufacture of rubber stamps. One of the chief features of his business is manufacturing seals. He was married in Tennessee in 1872.
JOHN G. STANLEY.
Mr. Stanley was born at Manchester, Lancashire, England, February 14, 1834. He remained in his native town until twenty-five years of age.
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During that time, he learned the trade of basket- making, in which he was engaged until his depart- ure for America in 1859. Soon after his arrival at Brooklyn, N. Y., he entered the employ of Charles Zinn, importer of German and French baskets, but at the end of six months he removed to Philadelphia, and, though having but little cap- ital, he began the manufacture of wooden and willow ware. In 1860, he removed to Chicago and continued the same business in connection with the manufacture of baby carriages, until 1871, when he suffered the loss of all of his property in the great Chicago fire. Removing to Pittsburgh, Penn., soon afterward, he endeavored to re-estab- lish his business. He continued manufacturing and traveling from one city to another, to avail himself of the most favorable market, for two years, then located in Chicago, and succeeded in building up an extensive business. In 1878, he removed to Denver, and has since been engaged in an extensive business, as a manufacturer and dealer in wooden and willow ware.
HON. EUGENE K. STIMSON.
Mr. Stimson, Auditor of the State of Colorado, was born in Batavia, N. Y., June 27, 1844. He attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age, when he became ambitious for a life of romance, took " French leave" of his home, and went to sea, shipping aboard the merchantman " Co- rinne," bound for Peru and Valparaiso. He re- mained at sea for about a year, when he returned home just in time to be one of the first to respond to the call for volunteers, enlisting in the Boston Fusileers. At the first battle of Bull Run he was taken prisoner, and, for ten months was incarcerated in the prisons of Richmond, Tuscaloosa and Salis- bury, N. C., after which he was paroled and re- turned to bis home in New York. A short time afterward, he was appointed a cadet in the West Point Military Academy, where he remained for about two years. He then left West Point to re-enlist in Battery M, of the First New York Ar- tillery, and went with his regiment through Georgia
and North and South Carolina. Near the close of the war he became disabled, and received a fur- lough to return home, which had not expired when the last gun was fired and peace was restored. As soon as his health would permit, he went to Terre Haute, Ind., where he engaged in civil engineer- ing, which profession he followed up to the time he was elected to his present position. He came to Colorado in 1872, and. after remaining in Denver a short time, received an appointment in the engi- neering corps of the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- road, the duties of which required him to remove to Pueblo. There he resided up to the time of his election to the auditorship. Mr. Stimson has taken great interest in the Fire Departments of the State, and for the past three years has been elected by the State Fire Association as its President. This gentleman occupies a high social and official position, and enjoys the friendship of young and old alike.
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