USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 82
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 82
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interests alone, but has employed a portion of his wealth in permanent improvements in both Lead- ville and Denver, owning in the latter city alone about $225,000 worth of real estate, including an elegant residence, occupying an entire block in the pleasantest part of the city. He is now completing a fine brown-stone front, five-story building, costing about $165,000, on the corner of Sixteenth and Larimer streets, the ground floor being devoted to elegant stores, and the rest of the building to offices, the Western Union Telegraph Company occupying half of the topmost floor.
In Leadville, in addition to his mining property, he has some $65,000 worth of real estate, and has recently erected a fine opera house, costing about $35,000, and completed in sixty days from the letting of the contract. He is the President of the Bank of Leadville, established by him in October, 1878, with one clerk. Its growth has kept pace with that city, employing at the present writing eight men, and having a deposit of over $500,000. As Leadville is the greatest mining camp in the world, so the Bank of Leadville is the liveliest banking institution in America. Gov. Tabor, beside being a Director of the First Na- tional Bank of Denver, has recently been elected Vice President of this bank. He has held the office of County Treasurer of Lake County since 1877, and was Mayor of Leadville during the first fourteen months of its existence as a city. He is also President of the Leadville Improvement Company, to which is due the only really fine street in Leadville-Harrison avenue-ninety feet wide, which this company laid out and donated to the city. He was the prime mover in organiz- ing the Leadville Stock Exchange, of which he was the first President, and is also President of the Leadville Gas Company, which was organized in July, 1879, and, on the Ist of November fol- lowing, had three and a half miles of main laid. Gov. Tabor's decision of character, quickness of perception, and promptness of action, mark his every movement. He no sooner decides than he begins to act. To illustrate : The transaction
before alluded to, by which he closed out his remaining stock in the Little Pittsburg Mining Company for $1,000,000, bought 880 shares of the First National Bank of Denver, and at the. same time purchased the Matchless mine, at Leadville, for $117,000. took place in the short space of fifteen minutes. His fortune has been acquired mainly in the purchase and operating of mines, requiring a strong nerve, excellent judg- ment, and great faith in the richness of Colorado's mineral deposits. In every instance have his expectations been realized, and his judgment been fully vindicated, and Gov. Tabor is to-day one of a trio of millionaires, consisting of himself, Mr. Chaffee and Mr. Moffat, whose wealth is not equaled by that of any other three men in Colo- rado. Io October, 1878, he was elected the first Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, and, believing that no man should accept a public trust without performing its labors to the best of his ability, he at once devoted his attention to preparing himself for parliamentary duties, and, as President of the Senate, acquitted himself with great honor, and proved one of the best parliamentarians who ever occupied the position of presiding officer of that body. Gov. Tabor's recent heavy investments in Chicago property have attracted the attention of the whole country, and produced a stimulating effect upon the real-estate market in that city.
GEORGE TRITCH.
This well-known pioneer and recognized head of the hardware business in Colorado was born in Baden, Germany, April 26, 1829, his parents emigrating to America the same year. Arriving at New York, they made their way by lake and canal to Chillicothe, Ross Co., Ohio, then a small village of about four hundred inhabitants and the terminus of the Ohio Canal. He remained at home until the age of fifteen years, when, in 1844, he went to Cincinnati to learn the tinner's trade, leaving that city in 1847 for Pittsburgh, where he was married in 1849. In 1853, he emigrated West to Muscatine and Tipton, Iowa,
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where he was engaged in business until 1860. At that time, Denver, with all that portion of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains embraced within the boundaries of the present State of Colorado, was known throughout the East as the Pike's Peak country. In March, 1860, Mr. Tritch started for Pike's Peak, going first to Omaha, then a very small town, which place he left on the 15th of April following, taking with him a small supply of tinner's stock and a set of tools in a two-horse wagon. On the first Sunday out, they had their first experience with the Indians on what was known as Shinn's Ferry Island, about sixty-five miles from Omaha. The party with whom he was traveling being relig- iously inclined and, moreover, regarding the noble red man with charitable feelings, went into camp and devoted the day to rest and feeding the Indians, who seemed to enjoy it (the feeding) very much. The party all retired that night with the comforting convietion of having performed their duty ; 'but, on turning out next morning, they found to their sorrow and consternation that they had but "cast their pearls before swine," as the Indians had stolen nearly an entire wagon- load of provisions, and left our Christian friends to "grub " along the remainder of the way as best they could, but with very little charity for the poor Indian.
Landing in Denver on the 27th of May, Mr. Tritch opened up for business on Blake street, on the lot now occupied by J. S. Brown & Brother. June 24, he started East for his family, returo- ing to Denver on the 23d of August, and starting business where the Colorado National Bank now stands. In November, 1860, he removed to his present location, where he does an immense busi- ness, extending throughout the entire Rocky Mountain region tributary to Denver. He was the first to introduce the sale, in this country, of scythes, cradles, plows, seed-drills, thrashing ma- chines, mowers and reapers, horse-rakes, &c. In April, 1863, he was elected a member of the City Council, serving two years. The same year, he
was chosen Treasurer of Denver Lodge, No. 5, A., F. & A. M., and re-elected every year to the pres- ent time. In 1876, he was elected President of the German National Bank of Denver, and also Vice President of the Denver & South Park Rail- road Construction Company. He is at present one of the Regents of the State University, elected in 1876, and the same year was elected Treasurer of the Colorado Industrial Association. He was elected Captain of the Governor's Guard, on the night of the great "Indian scare," in 1864, and commissioned by Gov. John Evans, serving under Col. Chivington, during the famous bloek-house defense that followed. He has had many narrow escapes from Indians during the Indian troubles, from 1863 to 1868, crossing the Plains in coach and wagons every year. He is an energetic, en- terprising, public spirited and liberal-hearted citi- zen, and has been identified with nearly all the public enterprises of the city and territory.
HON. WILLIAM D. TODD.
Mr. Todd, Cashier and Secretary of the Denver Safe Deposit and Savings Bank, has been a resi- dent of Denver since 1873. He was born in the city of Philadelphia in 1846, and, at an early age, accompanied his parents to Greensburg, Penn., where his father died shortly afterward. He then removed to Washington, D. C., receiving a publie- school education, and, in 1857, was appointed a page in the House of Representatives. He remained at the capitol up to 1873, the last ten years as Private Secretary to Hon. Schuyler Col- fax, during his terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and Vice President of the United States. In the mean time, he graduated from the Columbia College Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He kept up his law studies, practicing in Pennsylvania during the vacations of Congress, and, in 1872, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. As above stated, he came to Denver in 1873, and engaged in the practice of his profession. Since 1874, he has been Cashier and Secretary of the
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Denver Safe Deposit and Savings Bank, of which he was one of the incorporators. During the past year he has been Secretary of the Denver City Railway Company, and Secretary of the Platte Water Company for several years. He is also Treasurer of the St. Louis and Denver Land and Mining Company, and Secretary of the Board of Education since 1876. He was a member of the State Legislature of 1879, and was active in the business of the session. Declining to be a candi- date for the Speakership of the' Honse, he was chosen Speaker pro tem., and also served as Chairman of the Committees on Public Lands and Rules, and is a member of the Committees on Judiciary, Appropriations and Education. Among the measures introduced by him was the " Bill for Encouraging the Formation of a State Historical and Natural History Society," of which society he was chosen Treasurer. Mr. Todd is a leading member of the Masonic Fraternity, and holds offices of trust in Union Lodge No. 7, Denver Chapter No. 2, and Colorado Commandery No. 1, K. T. He is also Grand Treasurer of the Grand Chapter and Grand Commandery. He was married in Denver in 1875. Few men in Denver have, in so short a time, become so thoroughly identified with the interests of the city and State, and no one has acquired a more enviable reputation as a thorough business man and a wide-awake, enterprising citi- zen.
WILLIAM F. THOMPSON.
The name of William F. Thompson is familiar to all the old miners and early settlers of Colo- rado. He has camped upon the present site of Denver, and prospected with partial success for gold in the very beds which have since become celebrated for the richest carbonates ever dis- covered. The following sketch of his career will be eagerly read by many of his old friends and companions during the exciting times of 1860. William F. Thompson was born in the year 1838, in Westchester County, N. Y., but passed his youth and grew to manhood in Wisconsin, in the town of Beloit, whither his parents had moved
when he was twelve years old. His father was a Presbyterian minister, and with home instruction and a course of studies in Beloit College enabled his son to receive a liberal education. He left college, however, without passing through the senior class, and devoted the three following years to agricultural pursuits. In 1860, the Pike's Peak fever, which he had caught the year before, took possession of his hopes and prospects in life, and carried him away from home and friends, across the American Desert, into the rugged canons and gulches of Colorado. The trip was made in a wagon from the Missouri River to the mountains, with a number of other young and adventurous men, similarly bent upon the acquisition of sudden wealth. After a short rest at Denver, which then could scarcely boast of being a settlement, he proceeded to the mountains, which loomed up before him as citadels guarding the golden treas- ures which he and other hardy adventurers had come to sieze and carry away. This illusion was soon dispelled. How few there are to-day who brought their bright hopes and young hearts to Colorado in 1859 and 1860 and found aught else than disappointment at the end of their long and perilous journey. Mr. Thompson mined and prospected like the rest, first at Spring Gulch, then at Russell Gulch, and then over at the far- famed Spanish Bar, where he assisted in the build- ing of the first stamp-mill, for a long time the only one in that or neighboring camps. From Spanish Bar he went to Black Hawk, where he spent over a year in unsuccessful claims, and then to Nevada Gulch, where he mined and afterward leased and operated a large stamp-mill for crush- ing quartz. In the winter of 1864, he paid a visit to his parents in Wisconsin, and returned in the following spring to Colorado. Erecting a steam saw-mill near Nevada Gulch, he supplied that camp and Black Hawk with a large amount of lumber, but eventually disposed of his interest in the mill, and built another on the old Gny Hill, on the stage road between Black Hawk and Denver. From there he went to Cheyenne, just
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before the track of the Union Pacific Railroad had reached that place, and opened a lumber-yard, securing a contract from the United States Gov- ernment to furnish nearly all the lumber needed for the construction of Fort D. A. Russell. In 1870, he returned to Colorado and formed one of the early colonists of the town of Greeley, then known as Union Colony No. 1, supplying nearly all the lumber used in the building of the settle- ment. He is still in business in that flourishing place, and, in connection with E. B. Annis, is also doing a heavy lumber trade in Denver. Although a resident of Greeley, Mr. Thompson is closely identified with Denver, and is, perhaps, as well known in the social and business circles of the latter city as he is in Greeley. Mr. Thompson was married in Illinois to Miss Emma Hawes, during a visit to that State in 1868. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and, in politics, is prominently identified with the Repub- lican party of Colorado. He is at present Chair- man of the Republican County Committee of Wells County. In pecuniary matters, Mr. Thomp- son is regarded as one of the solid men of the State. He owns valuable property in Denver and throughout the State ; is heavily interested in the lumber business; operates a large steam saw-mill on the Denver, Sonth Park & Pacific Railroad, and controls the products of several others, and is Director and Vice President of the Union Bank of Greeley. His unblemished and successful record has secured for him the respect of his fellow-citizens, while his unassuming manners and kindly nature have won for him a host of friends throughout the State.
JAMES G. TIDBALL.
The senior member of the firm of Tidball & Mesenbring, of Denver, James G. Tidball, was born in Mercer County, Penn., in the year 1841. He received a good education, and early in life, assumed business responsibilities by taking charge of a farm, and owning and operating a shingle factory at the same time. Notwithstanding that
his investments proved successful, and the profits of his business very remunerative, he became im- pressed with the consciousness that his labors should be in another field, whereof the gain would be less transitory and more consoling. Armed with that resolution, he disposed of his business and presented himself, at the age of twenty-four, at the Lane Theological Seminary, in Cincinnati, prepared to undertake a complete course of studies and fit himself for the sacred profession to which he felt himself divinely called. His health had always been a source of anxiety to his family, and constant application to the studies of his profes- sion, tended still further to awaken apprehension. He was, at last, compelled by waning strength to defer the prosecution of the work to which he had devoted himself, and to seek, in absolute rest and quiet, respite from the nervous attacks to which he was rapidly becoming a complete victim. A change of climate had often been advised, and, yielding to the wishes of his relatives and friends, and buoyed by his own hopes, he came to Colorado in 1873. At various periods since, he has attempted to realize the dearest wishes of his life by resum- ing his studies in the ministry, but such efforts have, in every case, proved that his physical con- dition will not permit him to exercise the duties of the profession. After repeated warnings from eminent physicians, and acting from a sense of duty to his family, he has reluctantly abandoned the cherished purpose of his life, and permanently engaged in mercantile pursuits. That he will suc- ceed, no one will doubt who has ever had the opportunity of realizing how earnestly he enters upon any course where duty leads the way. He was at one time owner of a sheep ranche near Box Elder, in Colorado, and was quite successful in its management, but after several months dis- posed of it, in order to reside with his family in Denver. In April, 1879, he formed his present partnership with Mr. Mesenbring, in the grocery line, and up to the present time, the firm has done an excellent business. Mr. Tidball is a Presbyte- rian, and a licentiate of Butler Presbytery, Penn.
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He was married, in 1872, in Mercer County, Penn., and his wife is now Principal of the Blake Street School, in Denver.
SAMUEL T. THOMSON.
Mr. Thomson, United States Land Receiver for the State of Colorado, is a native of New Jersey, and was born in Hunterdon County in 1838. When eighteen years of age, he went to Illinois, and, on the breaking-out of the war, enlisted as a three-months man, in the Sixty-fourth Illinois Regiment. At the expiration of this time, he re enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Regiment, and was successively promoted to the rank of Major of the Fourth, and Captain and First Lieutenant of the Sixty-fourth Regiment of his State. After the war, he was connected with the building of some of the principal railroads in the West, which business he followed until ill health compelled him to seek a more favorable climate, and in 1872, he came to Colorado, where he began sheep-raising, in which he has been eminently successful, owning one of the finest herds of Merino sheep in the State. He was appointed Receiver of Public Money of the United States Land Office in Den- ver in 1875, and has since continued to perform the duties of the office in an able and satisfactory manner.
ALBERT K. TILTON.
Albert K. Tilton, of the firm of Cyrus Eaton & Co., was born in the town of Tilton, State of New Hampshire, February 9, 1841. He is a son of James P. Tilton, who served in the war of 1812. His grandfather entered the war of the Revolution at its commencement, and served to its close. Following the patriotic example of his ancestors, Albert K. enlisted in the Fourth Regi- ment New Hampshire Volunteers, on the breaking- ont of the late war, and did not lay down his arms until peace was again restored to the land and the stability of the Union assured. At the close of the civil war, he migrated to the rising city of Denver, where he successfully established himself in business in which he is still engaged.
ALBERT R. TAGGART.
This gentleman was born in Berkshire Co , Mass., April 11, 1842. At the age of sixteen, he went to Suffield, Conn., where for about two years he was em- ployed as a farm hand. At the expiration of that time, he returned to his native State, where he spent a number of years, going from there to Clinton, Iowa. He followed railroading as a brakeman until 1870, when he came to Colorado. He first settled on Bear Creek, in this county, and followed farming for a time, when he returned to Iowa, re- maining about one year. Coming to Colorado a second time, he began farming on Clear Creek, six miles from Denver, where he is well known as an enterprising and successful farmer. Mr. Taggart was married in Denver, in 1875, to Miss Hattie L. Gormley, to which union three children have been born.
CHARLES A. TREAT.
Charles A. Treat was born in Fayetteville, N. Y., October 12, 1840. The son of a farmer, he re- ceived such education as could be derived from attending the district school in the winter, while he worked on the farm in the summer. In 1862, he went to Toledo, Ohio, where he remained sev- eral years, engaged in learning the painting busi- ness with one of the leading firms of that city. He was married in the fall of 1865, and came to Denver in 1871, when he opened a paint-shop on Fifteenth street, in a small frame building which was soon replaced by his present large and com- modious brick structure. Mr. Treat does all kinds of sign and ornamental painting, and some of the most elegant houses in the city give evi- dence of his superior skill as a painter and finisher.
HENRY L. TIERMAN.
Henry L. Tierman was born in Jefferson County, Ky., February 16, 1840. At the age of five years, he removed with his parents to St. Louis, Mo., and, at an early age, learned the tinner's trade in his father's shop. He remained there until the opening of the war, when he enlisted, in the spring of 1861, in the Tenth Missouri In-
FLOUR / FEED
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES R. DAVIS.
WEST DENVER FLDURING MILLS. CHAS. R.DAVIS, PROP.
RESIDENCE OF W. C. LOTHROP, COR.LAWRENCE & 18TH STS.
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RESIDENCE OF LEONARD A. WATKINS
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fantry, under Gen. Price, and served during the war. At its close, he was mustered out of service by Gen. Grant. He then followed the tinner's trade for a year and a half, in New Mexico, and returning thence to St. Louis, Mo., he spent two years more in the same occupation. In 1869, he came to Denver, Colo., where he followed his trade until 1874. At that time, having about $300 he purchased a tin-shop, and by industry and economy, gradually increased his business, subse- quently adding a general hardware and stove busi- ness, in which he has since successfully continued. He was married in Denver in 1873.
HENRY TUGGY.
Henry Tuggy was born in Berkshire, England, in the year 1844, and, ere his boyhood had been passed, commenced to labor iu the trade at which he is now successfully and prosperously engaged. From the age of ten to his twenty-first year, he resided with his uncle, first as an apprentice and then as a journeyman in the shoemaker's trade, receiving from that relative both the technical knowledge of his avocation, and the more precious training in the doctrines of Christianity. His first business venture was to open a boot and shoe store in the West End, London, which he con- ducted several years, until the depression of busi- ness in 1866 prevailed upon him to dispose of his interests there, and seek more remunerative invest- ments in the New World. After an interval of a few months, he procured employment at his trade in Missouri, residing there during the greater por- tion of three years, and then came to Denver, Colo., where he has since resided. Beginning in a humble way, he has managed, by industry, skill and economy, to build up a large and constantly growing business in the boot and shoe line, em- ploying at this time about eighteen hands, and conducting a branch store in Leadville, in connec- tion with his principal establishment on Fifteenth street, between Holladay and Larimer streets, in the city of Denver. Devoting his ingenuity to the construction of a boot which should meet the
requirements of the miners, he has introduced an article that has met with universal favor among those who work in mineral or quartz beds, that is known by his initials, studded with nails, on the sole. While vigorously engaged in pushing his business to its legitimate limits, Mr. Tuggy has also found time to labor in the vineyard, where the compensation shall not be considered in this life save in the approval of his own conscience. He is known throughout the State as an enthusi- astic worker and exhorter, and has devoted most of his leisure time to the advancement of Christian doctrines, by preaching and by counsel, wherever his services seemed most needed. He was the first President of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation of Denver, and organized its early meetings in his own room, where the nucleus of its present large proportions was formed. Mr. Tuggy is a self taught, and, so far as financial status is con- cerned, a self-made man. He was married in England to Miss Emma Wright, daughter of a respectable citizen of London. He seems fully alive to the future progress of his adopted State, and intends to keep pace with its growth.
JAMES TYNON.
James Tynon was born in Alexandria, Va., November 2, 1835. He received a good common- school education, and being especially fond of history, has since continued his studies in that direction. From 1852 until 1854, he superin- tended his uncle's herring fishery on the Potomac, near Mount Vernon. After this went to Boston, Mass., and opened a grocery store, in which busi- ness he continued two years, selling out in the spring of 1856. This year Mr. Tynon removed to St. Augustine, Fla., where he was on the Government survey for two years. In 1858, he sailed up the Mississippi River as far as the mouth of the Swan River, and located there for the winter, buying and selling hides and furs. In the spring, he removed to St. Louis and thence to Leavenworth, Kan., where he purchased a load of sugar and coffee, and, with three yoke of
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two regiments of infantry, and one of artillery. Of the latter-the Tenth New York Artillery-he was appointed First Lieutenant of Company A. bnt from the first acted as Captain of the company. They rendezvoused at Jefferson Barracks, Sackett's Harbor, on Lake Ontario, and a few months later were ordered to Washington for the defense of that city, where he received the commission of Captain. His regiment was fortunate in securing Alexander Piper, of the regular army, as their Colonel, one of the best offieers in that branch of the army, under whose command the regiment became one of the most efficient in the service. After remaining there a year and a half, constructing fortifications, he was ordered into the field with the Army of the Potomac, remaining with that army during the war, and participating in all of its battles and sieges. After the surrender of Richmond and Petersburg, Capt. Tobey was appointed Disbursing Officer, and established a camp in the city of Petersburg, selecting for that purpose a tobacco factory and warehouse. The duties of this office required two companies and ten officers, beside a large elerical force. He continued to discharge the duties of that office until ordered to establish a Freedman's Bureau at Petersburg, and continued at the head of that department until September, 1866, when he resigned, and returned to Water- town, N. Y. He then turned his attention to studying inventions, the first being a revolving sig- nal, with remittent lights of great strength. This signal was intended for railways and steamboats. In 1867, he removed to Bridgeport, Conn., and erected this signal on the New York & New Haven Railway, and and during that time invented his drawbridge lock and danger signal, so geuerally used at present on all drawbridges which span our large rivers. In 1868, he removed to Chicago and began the manufacture of his signals, in connection with a railway supply house. While there, he in- vented his lever-handle switch-stand, of which a large number are now in use, besides many other valuable and useful inventions. In 1870, he re- moved to St. Louis, to accept a position in the St.
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