USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 85
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 85
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JOHN WALKER.
John Walker was born in Franklin County, Me., February 17, 1833. When about ten years of age, his parents removed to Portland, Me., where he received an education in the public schools, and at the age of nineteen connected him- self with Pierce's Express Company, doing busi- ness between Portland and Boston, remaining with that Company until 1856, when he came West in the employ of the United States Express Company. In 1860, he came to Colorado and entered the employ of the Central, Overland, Cal- ifornia & Pike's Peak Express Company, with his office at Central City. In 1862, he was engaged in mining in company with Alfred Sayer at Cache Creek, and in the fall of that year served in the Quartermaster's Department of the District of Colorado, until he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Third Regiment of Colorado Infantry. In the fall of 1863, he was mustered out by reason of the consolidation of his regiment with the Second Colorado. In 1864, he was appointed Clerk of the District Court in the Second Judicial District, residing in Central City until 1866.
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During that time, in June, 1864, by act of Con- gress, a constitutional convention was promulgated, of which he was Assistant Secretary. The follow- ing year, in December, 1865, he was elected Sec- retary of the State Senate, and was also admitted to the bar to practice during the same year. From 1865 to 1866, he was on the editorial staff of the Register. In 1867, he purchased the Tribune in company with R. W. Woodbury, and continued in that business until 1872, when he sold out to the Denver Publishing Company, after which he en- gaged in the real-estate business, and in the fall of 1873 was elected Justice of the Peace, serving in that capacity until 1875. From that time until 1879, he was Deputy Sheriff of Arapahoe County. In the spring of 1879, he engaged in mining at Leadville, in which he still continues. He was married 'in 1866, and has a family of three chil- dren.
WILLIAM WITTEBORG.
William Witteborg is essentially a self-made man. He was born in Soest, a town in the Prus- sian Province of Westphalia, on the 24th day of October, 1832. He learned the printer's trade in Germany, and after looking over the ground thor- oughly, became convinced that the Old World did not present a promising field for enterprise, and decided to emigrate to America. In 1857, he landed in the city of New York as a poor immi- grant, but his native energy and great business capacity helped him on. Going West as far as Indianapolis, he spent the first year in working at his trade. Having an older brother in Texas, he went to that State, and for a time was in his brother's employ on the farm; but the monoto- nous life of the farm proving irksome to him, we find him again, a year later, in Indianapolis. The roving life of a journeyman printer, took him to New York, Louisville, St. Louis, Davenport, Mil- waukee and Warsaw, where he worked in most of the German and English newspaper offices. Being without a family to care for, this nomadic kind of life was rather agreeable than otherwise. In 1862, he settled in Leavenworth, Kan., where he was mar-
ried in 1866. In 1872, he determined to attempt the establishment of a German newspaper in Den- ver, a hazardous undertaking, by the way, as two German papers had already been started, and after a brief and precarious existence had collapsed, and it looked as if the experiment of a German paper in Colorado were destined to meet with nothing but failure. Determined not to be dis- heartened hy the failure of others, he went to work with his usual energy, and on the 4th of May, 1872, the first number of the Colorado Jour- nal appeared. The obstacles to be overcome were numerous, but against them all that little but spicy sheet fought its way into public favor. The great personal ability and indomitable persever- ance of Mr. Witteborg, as a manager and solicitor, steadily added to its circulation, its revenue and its influence. A steam press was bought, and in 1878, the lot on Holladay street was purchased, and a one-story building erected thereon. The following year this was enlarged, and to-day the two-story brick building of the Colorado Journal is an ornament to the city and a monument to the enterprise and success of the owner.
J. M. WALKER, M. D.
Dr. Walker was born in Alleghany County, Va., September 29, 1847. In 1849, his parents re- moved to Macoupin County, Ill. He received a liberal education in the public schools in the towns of Scottville and Greenfield, Ill. In 1864, he en- tered the army, enlisting in Company E, Twenty- eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served one year, until the expiration of his time, when he received his discharge August 26, 1865. After the war, he engaged in teaching about two years, after which he entered the Homoeopathic Medieal College of St. Louis, Mo., and graduated from that institution in 1870. He began his profes- sional life at Winchester, Ill., in 1870, where he continued to practice until leaving for Denver, Colo., in 1873, since which time, he has been act- ively engaged in the practice of his profession in this city. On June 10, 1879, he associated with
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him, in the practice of medicine and surgery, Dr. Ambrose S. Everett, of St. Louis, Mo. Dr. Walker was married in Winchester, Ill., in the year 1872.
L. B. WELCH.
L. B. Welch, wagon-maker and general worker in iron, was born in Tioga County, Penn., in 1833. His parents' circumstances did not permit them to give him the advantages of even an ordinary edu- cation, but compelled them to utilize his services in his father's shop at the early age of thirteen years. After learning the trade of blacksmithing, he re- moved to a neighboring town and started business on his own account, when only twenty-three years old, but subsequently returned to his native village, where he married and engaged in business, until the year 1854, when he removed with his wife to the State of Iowa. There he spent ten years, near the city of Davenport, working so con- stantly and laboriously at his trade that his health became impaired, and he determined to remove to Colorado, and, loading all their worldly ef- fects upon a wagon, he and his wife began their long journey across the Plains, in search of health and prosperity. Arrived in Denver in the year 1864, and with his strength al- most recuperated by the trip from Iowa, he began life again, withont capital or friends, and so pros- pered since his residence in Colorado, that he finds himself to-day in comparatively easy circumstances. He has combined the business of blacksmithing with wagon-making and repairing, employs several hands, and is the owner of real estate and some interest in mining claims. Mr. Welch is a life- long Republican, a member of the Blue Ribbon Temperance Society, and enjoys the respect of all who have had business or social relations with him.
HENRY WORMINGTON.
The success which has attended the career of Henry Wormington is due to industry, economy and a practical knowledge of the business to which he has devoted the years of his youth and man- hood. He was born in Worcestershire, England,
in 1832, and brought up on a farm until his eighteenth year, when he commenced to learn the butcher trade at Kidderminster, the famous car- pet-manufacturing town of Great Britain. Six years werc passed as an apprentice and journey- man in the largest shop in London, when he came to the United States in 1855, and, after a brief employment in Fulton Market, New York, emigrated to Iowa. By hard work, he managed to secure sufficient capital to go into business, and for several years, both in Cedar and Cass Counties, was very successful in his trade. Failing health compelled him to come to Colorado in 1863, and from that early date to the present time, he has been a permanent resident of Denver, conducting a large meat business in connection with cattle ranches and vegetable farms near the city, which he has acquired exclusively through his legitimate trade. In 1871, he was affleted with a severe affection of the eyes, threatening a complete loss of his sight, and after skillful treat- ment at the hands of an oculist of this city, went to England, accompanied by his wife, to place himself in the hands of the celebrated Dr. Alex- ander, of London. He returned in a year radically cured. Mr. Wormington was married, in 1857, to Miss Anna Hopley, of Lewis, Cass Co., Iowa, and has a family of five children, the oldest of whom is associated with him in business. Mr. Worming- ton is a member of the Baptist Church, a Demo- crat in politics, and a member of the Order of I. O. O. F. He has amassed a considerable fort- une, is the owner of valuable real estate in Den- ver and suburbs, and is considered one of the leading meat merchants of Colorado.
WILLIAM E. WILSON, M. D.
Dr. Wilson was born March 16, 1833, in At- lanta, Ga., where he attended the common schools until the age of fourteen. Hethen entered Emery College, Oxford, Ga., where he remained two years. Returning to Atlanta, he began the study of medi- cine, Dr. William B. Jones, of that city, being his [ preceptor. He graduated in medicine at the age
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of twenty years, in the Medical Department of the University of New York, receiving his diploma March 16, 1853. He then practiced one year in At- lanta, after which he attended another course of lect- ures in the Nashville Medical School, receiving the ad eundem degree of M. D. in March, 1855. He removed to Jacksonville, III., and practiced one year, removing thence to Berlin, Ill., where he practiced medicine four years. He then located in Decatur, Ill., and continued the practice of his profession until the outbreak of the civil war, when he was commissioned Surgeon of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry Volunteers. While his regiment was encamped in Quincy, Ill., he had charge of a ward in the general hospital, and also established a regimental hospital at Benton Barracks, in St. Louis, and also at Springfield, Mo. While their headquarters remained at Springfield, he accompa- nied his regiment on many an expedition in pursuit of Gen. Marmaduke's cavalry, which they drove out of the State, following them, on one occasion, more than two hundred miles. At the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark, he had charge of the brigade hospital. In the summer of 1863, he accompanied his regiment on the march of Davidson's Cavalry Division from Pilot Knob, Mo., to Little Rock, Ark. On the way, they had a number of skir- mishes with Gen. Price's forces, and more than a hundred of his regiment were in the regimental hospital from the malarial effects of the swamp water which they were obliged to drink, Dr. Wil- son being the only medical officer in the command. At the capture of Little Rock, in attempting to cross the Arkansas River, they had a cavalry fight with Marmaduke's cavalry, in which thirty-two of his regiment were wounded in five minutes' time. During the winter of 1863-64, his regiment, having seen much active service, was allowed a rest, during which they veteranized and returned to Illinois on a thirty days' furlough. On being ordered to Nash- ville, the regiment being supplied with two assistant surgeons, he was detached and placed in charge of the cavalry depot hospital in Nashville, where he re- mained till the expiration of his term of service.
During his army life, he was constantly with his regiment, and bore with the men the hardships of camp life; was in many minor engagements, and saw much arduous service. Returning, he prac- ticed his profession in Decatur till 1872, when he came to Denver. He is a member of the Colorado. Medical Society, of which he was Vice President two years. As Chairman of the Committee on Obstetrics, for two years, he made two reports on that subject, which were published in the transac- tions of that society. He is also a member of the Denver Medical Association. Dr. Wilson, as a citizen and a physician, occupies a high position in Denver, and in the Medical Council of the State.
CAPT. SAMUEL E. WETZEL.
Capt. Wetzel was born in Union County, Penn., April 27, 1840. He was educated at the Union Seminary, New Berlin, Penn., and, at the age of seventeen, entered upon the avocation of a teacher. In 1862, he removed to Bristol, Ind., and in August of the same year, entered the Union army as a member of Company B, Twenty-ninth Indiana Volunteers, joining the regiment as a recruit, in Kentucky, in September. He took part in the battles of La Vergne, Tenn., Triune, and Stone River. For meritorious conduct in the last-named battle, he was promoted successively to Corporal, Sergeant, and Sergeant Major. On the advance to Chattanooga, occurred the battle of Liberty Gap, in which he participated. His regi- ment occupied the extreme right, and took part in the flank movement that occasioned the capture of Chattanooga. At the battle of Chickamauga, his regiment went into battle with 297 men and left 191-nearly two-thirds-on the field. Mr. Wetzel heing once wounded and twice captured, but finally made his escape. The Adjntant of the regiment having been captured at Chicka- mauga, he was appointed to fill his place, and, while acting in that capacity, re-enlisted his regi- ment as veterans, that being the first regiment in the Union army to re-enlist, for which they were assigned, as a mark of favor, to an independent
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division, and kept on duty at Chattanooga. He was afterward promoted to First Lientenant, and then to Captain, and for some time after the close of the war, was in command of a post at Kingston, Ga. Leaving the service December 15, 1865, he returned to Indiana, and began reading medicine, but at the end of six months was married, and removed to Iowa, where he engaged in selling dry goods. In 1873, he came to Colorado, where he had previously made considerable investments in cattle, to which business he has since giveh liis constant attention, having a herd of about 3,500 cattle. He is a member of the State Board of Cattle Inspection Commissioners, and has spent much time and labor in perfecting a system of inspection by which more complete and reliable statistics of the cattle industry can be obtained. He has been Secretary of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association since 1875.
JAMES M. WILSON.
The business of raising stock in Colorado is receiving more and more attention each succced- ing year. From a very small beginning, it has increased in amount and importance until now it is second only to mining as an industry of the State. No firm engaged in the cattle business is more worthy of mention than that of the Wilson Brothers, of Denver. The senior member of the firm, James M. Wilson, is an "old-timer" in Colorado, having come here in 1860, and engaged in freighting between Omaha and Denver. After about six months, he bought a ranche near the city of Denver, and began farming. In 1863, he started in the cattle business in company with another gentleman and in a moderate way, until 1870, when his brother, Clark H. Wilson, having joined him in 1868, they opened a ranche on Box Elder Creek. In 1876, they removed their herd to Frenchman's Creek, a tributary of the Repub- lican River, about two hundred and fifty miles from Denver, where they have a fine herd of some five thousand cattle. Mr. Wilson was born in Fairfield County, Conn., September 24, 1839,
and, when about twelve years old, removed to Litchfield County, in the same State, and followed farming till his removal to Colorado in 1860. He was a member of the Board of County Com- missioners of Arapahoe County from 1866 to 1869, and President of the Colorado Cattle Grow- ers' Association in 1875 and 1876. He has for several years been connected with the German National Bank of Denver, of which he has been a Director since 1877.
CLARK H. WILSON.
Clark H. Wilson, of the firm of Wilson Brotli- ers, stock raisers, was born in Fairfield County, Conn., July 10, 1842. When he was about twelve years of age, he went to New York City, where he was employed for awhile as a clerk in a store. From New York he went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania, and was engaged in operating in the oil business from 1865 to 1867. He then came west as far as Iowa, and engaged in freighting in Dnbuque. In 1868, he came to Colorado, and at once entered the stock business with his brother, James M. Wilson, who had come to the Territory in 1860, and had already quite a herd of cattle. Mr. Wilson has given his attention exclusively to the cattle industry during his residence here.
BENJAMIN F. WOODWARD.
Benjamin F. Woodward, the pioneer telegrapher of Colorado, was born in Newark, Ohio, June 25, 1834. He received a common school education at Rochester, N. Y., where his father's family re- sided from his infancy until his thirteenth year. Thomas H. Woodward, his father, was a plow man- ufacturer and the inventor of several valuable improvements to the cast-iron plow of that period. The family removed tu Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1847, and having friends connected with the first sys- tem of telegraph lines established in this country, he soon obtained a position with the Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Company, afterward merged into the Western Union, and, in his eighteenth year,
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became manager of the Pittsburgh office of the latter Company. In the spring of 1856, or in his twenty-first year, he was offered a copartnership with William Mccutcheon, Esq., a wealthy whole- sale grocer who had become greatly pleased with the excellent character and business qualifications of the subject of our sketch, to engage in mercantile pursuits in the West. Although but a boy in years, he had already achieved an enviable rep- utation as a careful and bright business man, Mr. Mccutcheon offered to furnish unlimited capital and credit, and give his young friend unrestricted control as to his choice of location and purchases. Mr. Woodward established himself in the promis- ing city of Fulton, Ill., where he remained until 1862, marrying Helen S., daughter of Dr. William Bassett, in 1861. Failing health (asthma) obliged him to dispose of a prosperous business and seek a change of climate. An intimation to his old friend, Gen. Thomas T. Eckert, that he would like a position with the army somewhere in the South, brought a telegraphic summons to Washington, and he was appointed cipher operator at Gen. Peck's headquarters, Suffolk, Va. In the spring of 1863, he resigned his position in the army, with the intention of trying the climate of Cali- fornia, but being offered the charge of the Denver (Colo.) office of the Pacific Telegraph Company, who were about to construct a branch to this city from Julesburg, he was induced to test the climate of Colorado. Mr. Woodward took charge of the construction from Julesburg west, and completed the line to Denver, opening the first telegraph office here October 10, 1863. The Pacific Tele- graph Company was merged into the Western Union in 1865, Mr. Woodward continuing as manager. In the fall of 1867, Mr. Woodward organized the United States & Mexico Telegraph Company. Associated with him were Henry M. Porter, President; William N. Byers, Vice Presi- dent; D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer; and F. Z. Salomon, L. B. Maxwell, John Dold and E. Spie- gelberg, Trustees. Mr. Woodward was Secretary and Superintendent of the Company, and com-
pleted a line to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the spring of 1868, and the following autumn the Company extended their line from Denver to Cheyenne. In 1870, a controlling interest was purchased by the Western Union Company, and Mr. Woodward became the District Superintendent of the latter Company for Colorado and New Mexico, holding this position until the summer of 1875. Since that date, he has been connected with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company as superintendent of telegraph, and negotiated an important contract between that Company and the Western Union in 1876. Mr. Woodward was the founder of Riverside Cemetery and its first Pres- ident. He has been associated prominently with most of the enterprises connected with the growth and development of this city, in which he takes great pride. The climate of Colorado has thor- oughly removed all traces of his old enemy, the asthma. He is yet in the prime of life and busi- ness activity.
W W. WHIPPLE.
Among the pioneers of Colorado, who merit more than a passing mention in the history of the new State, is W. W. Whipple, senior mem- ber of the firm of Whipple & Pierson, legal and commercial printers. He was born in Jackson County, Mich., October 24, 1837. At an early age he learned the printer's trade, and followed the same as journeyman printer until the spring of 1857, when, like many other young men, he ac- cepted the advice of Horace Greeley and came West. He left his native village and started for the Far West, arriving in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in May, 1857, and remained in Western Iowa and Nebraska until February, 1859, when, hearing of the great excitement caused by the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak, he crossed the Plains, and arrived at the mouth of Cherry Creek April 10, 1859. Soon after his arrival, Mr. W. N. Byers began the publication of the Rocky Mountain News, in April, 1859, when he began his first work at the printing business in Colorado upon the first number of that paper. Soon after, he visited
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the mountains, and located at the then famous Jackson diggings, as they were called. He worked a placer mine successfully, and returned to Denver in the fall. He then followed his trade as jour- neyman printer until 1873, when he purchased a half-interest in the Central City Daily Register, in partnership with Hon. Frank Hall, now Adju- tant General of Colorado, and continued the same until June, 1876. He then sold out and returned to Denver, and followed his trade until October, 1877, when he formed a partnership with R. J. Pierson, as Whipple & Pierson, book and job printers. He was married at Jackson, Mich, in August, 1867, to the daughter of Russell Ford, a pioneer of that State.
GEORGE WILDER.
Mr. Wilder was born in Worcester County, Mass., December 29, 1820. In 1845, he went to Rochester, N. Y., remaining there two years, after which he went to Toledo, Ohio, and engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business, under the firm name of George Wilder & Co., carrying on business there until 1867. During six years of that time, he resided in New York City. He then removed to Kinderhook, on the Hudson River, having purchased the old Van Buren property, residing there seven years, after which he removed to Rochester, N. Y., and remained there until 1875, when he came to Denver, and, in March, 1879, formed a copartnership with John D. Best, as commission and wholesale pro- duce merchants, in which he still continues.
J. B. WARE.
Mr. Ware was born in Somersetshire, England, May 9, 1842. When he was eight years of age, his parents removed to the United States. Soon after they landed in New Jersey his mother died, after which he went with his father to Brighton, Canada West. There he received a common- school education, and remained until he was about nineteen years of age, when he went to Bay City, Mich., and engaged in business as foreman for R.
H. Stevens, of Buffalo, N. Y, rafting ship timber down the Saganaw River, in which he was engaged three years. He then learned the carpenter's trade, and, after spending three years at that, went to Rochester, N. Y., and followed his trade two years, after which he engaged in contracting and building on his own account, and continued the same fourteen years, establishing a very large and successful business. In October, 1878, ill health brought him to Denver, and since that time he has been engaged in contracting and building. Among the fine residences he has built is that of Charles Ballin. He was married, December 15, 1875, to Susan Vanderbeck, daughter of Mr. Vanderbeck, of Rochester, N. Y.
G. W. WILSON.
G. W. Wilson, Secretary of the Denver Trans- portation Company, dealer in coal, etc., was born Lancaster, Fairfield Co., Ohio, December 3, 1851, He remained there until fourteen years of age, when he went to Tennessee and engaged in farm- ing and the stock business, remaining there four years. In 1870, he came to Colorado and en- gaged in freighting in Northern Colorado about three years, after which ne was engaged in mining in the Georgetown district two years. Then in the lumber business one year, after which he went into the San Juan country and engaged in mining until 1877, when he came to Denver and engaged in the coal business, being general agent of the Star Coal Company.
HON. BENJAMIN W. WISEBART.
Following the first flood of immigration which poured into Colorado when the news of rich gold discoveries at Pike's Peak reached the Eastern States, inducing men of all classes and characters to leave home and competency for the distant plains and mountains-all animated by the pros- pect of great and sudden wealth, came a class of men content to engage in the less hazardous, if not so remunerative, pursuit of a business life. Of this latter class was the subject of this sketch.
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