Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 100

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1530

USA > Colorado > Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present > Part 100

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OHN R. SITLINGTON. No man in El Paso County takes a warmer interest in its progress than does Mr. Sitlington, and certainly no citizen is more popular than he. He owns a one-half interest in the Hall and Sitling- ton ranch, situated four miles south of Fountain, and comprising about eighteen hundred acres. At the time of forming a partnership with David C. Hall, they took twelve hundred head of cattle to the White River, but their losses were heavy and they concluded to remove to a more favorable location. In 1890 they bought the Hall ranch, and here they have since engaged successfully in stock-raising.

At the headwaters of the Potomac, in Highland County, Va., the subject of this sketch was born February 28, 1842, a son of Andrew and Mary (Hodge) Sitlington. He was reared on a farm, and walked four miles each morning, during the winter, to the log building where school was held. The house was built after a primitive plan, and its furnishings were equally crude, the seats being of puncheon and destitute of backs or desks. After a time he entered the academy at South Windham, Conn., where he attended school for three years. In 1858 he went to Pettis County, Mo. At that time there was only one building, and that a country school house, on

the site of the present city of Sedalia. His father, who had previously visited the county, bought land ten miles northwest of where Sedalia now stands, and in 1860 the family joined him there.

In 1863 our subject entered the service of the Confederates, and for two years was a faithful soldier in their army. On the expiration of his term he was honorably discharged and returned to Pettis County, where he continued to reside until 1870. In 1869 he married Miss Bettie Boulware, of Saline County, Mo. Three children have been born of their union, namely: Ola, who married Oscar Cell, of El Paso County, and has one child; Elizabeth Lucille and Ila Esma at home.

In 1870 Mr. Sitlington removed to Colorado, bringing with him a herd of cattle, and driving with his family in a wagon drawn by horses. Three months were spent on the road. He first pitched his tent in Chico Basin, where he re- mained one winter. During that time his wife was taken ill and he sent her back to their old Missouri home. In the spring of the next year he sold his cattle, and returning to Missouri, bought another herd, which he drove to Colorado, spending three months on the way. This time he settled on Turkey Creek in El Paso County, and for three years made his home there. He then sold out and bought some steers, which he drove to Missouri to feed, but while at Cotton- wood Falls, Kan., the Texas fever spread among the cattle and he lost all of them. This unfortu- nate loss left him with but $5 in the world. Turning back to Colorado, he bought a bunch of cattle, for which he agreed to pay on time. He began to raise cattle and engage in the dairy business. Locating on the Red Canon in Pueblo, he remained there for ten years, until 1885. By that time he had a good start and was in a pros- perous condition. During that year he formed his present partnership, and since then, with Mr. Hall, has carried on a large stock business. His first wife died in 1886 and in 1890 he married Miss Olivia Jackson, of Troy, Mo. Politically he is a Democrat. In 1892 he was his party's nomi- nee for county treasurer, and in spite of the fact that he made no effort to secure the office, he was defeated by only fifteen votes. He is a man who has made his way in the world unaided, in the face, too, of reverses that would have daunted a man of less force of character. He was early thrown upon his own resources, and his large

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property represents the results of years of arduous toil. He is a man of great energy; in fact, his industry and enterprise are of such a character that death alone will terminate his activities.

RANK KREYBILL, clerk of the district court of Bent County and a resident of Las Animas, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., May 11, 1852, being a son of Jacob E. and Fannie (Van Cannon) Kreybill. His boy hood days were spent on the home farm in his native county, where his father engaged in agricultural pursuits and also operated a mill. After having completed the country school studies he spent three years in Fremont Seminary, at Norristown, Pa. In May, 1870, he accompanied his parents to Leav- enworth, Kan., and soon afterward secured a clerkship in the First National Bank of Leaven- worth. For two years he continued in that posi- tion. Afterward he accepted a position as book- keeper in a wholesale grocery establishment, where he remained until March, 1879. He then came to Las Animas, Colo., and was bookkeeper for John W. Prowers until the latter's death in 1884, after which he remained with the successor of Mr. Prowers until 1890.

In Hays City, Kan., September 16, 1880, Mr. Kreybill married Miss Maria L. Patterson, who was born in Pottsville, Pa., and with whom he had become acquainted in Pennsylvania. After- ward, when he was living in Kansas and was unaware that she, too, lived in that state, he met her again when he was taking his vacation, near Hays City. They have two children living, namely: Frank Bird, who is nine years of age; and Alice Irene, two years, both born in Las An- imas.

In 1890 Mr. Kreybill accepted a position as superintendent of the Arkansas River Land, Res- ervoir and Canal Company, with whom he re- mained, and with their successors, the Fort Lyon Canal Company, being secretary and a director of the latter organization. He has always been iden- tified with the Republican party and has taken a warm interest in its progress. For two terms he served as a member of the city council. In 1889 he was the Republican nominee for county treas- urer. He was appointed clerk of the district court by Jesse G. Northcutt, judge of the third judicial district of the state of Colorado, and is filling the position with characteristic efficiency.

Mr. Kreybill owns a ranch of four hundred and sixty-four acres, upon which he engages in

the sheep business. The property is irrigated by the canal and is fairly well improved. Besides the ranch, he is the owner of property in the vil- lage. In religion he was reared a Presbyterian, but afterward became connected with the Episco- pal Church. He is a charter member of Las Animas Lodge No. 35, A. O. U. W., in which he has filled all of the chairs. He is also a charter member of the United Moderns and of Maple Leaf Camp No. 11, Woodmen of the World, in which he has filled all of the chairs.

HRISTIAN MARLMAN, who resides in Bent County, is an energetic and persever- ing man, and has given his attention closely to the cultivation of his home farm, on section 6, township 23, range 53 west, near the village of Fredonia. When he and his wife first came to Colorado, in 1891, it was for the purpose of mak- ing a visit only, but he was so pleased with the prospects here, that he bought three hundred and twenty acres on section 29, which he still owns. In 1894 he returned and purchased two hundred and eighty acres, to which he added an eighty- acre tract in 1898.

The son of William and Charlotte Marlman, our subject was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, November 3, 1833. He received a fair education in the schools of his native land and afterward was employed as clerk for a judge about two years. When he was twenty-four years of age he took passage on a sailing vessel, which spent four weeks on the ocean. After landing in New York he proceeded to Cincinnati, and from there went to Indiana, where he was employed as a farm hand for a period of five years. When he was about thirty years of age he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Kleine, who was born in Indiana. At that time he owned a farm of forty acres, but he soon sold it and bought one hundred and twenty acres in Ohio County, Ind., to which he added until he became the owner of five hundred acres. From Ohio County he moved to his present home in Colorado.

Mr. and Mrs. Marlman became the parents of seven children. Their oldest son, William, who was born in Ohio County, Ind., and lives in Bent County, married Kate Cleeter, and has three children. The second son, John, who is unmarried, is a farmer in Bent County. Henry, who occupied the old homestead in Indiana, is married and has one child. Emma is the wife of

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Charles Vinup and lives in Switzerland County, ject being the youngest of these. He was born Ind. Louis, Minnie and Mary reside with their parents.

In politics Mr. Marlman favors Republican men and measures. He was elected on the ticket of this party a commissioner of Bent County and was continued in that capacity for three terms. He and his wife were both reared in the Lutheran faith, and for more than twenty-five years he served as secretary and treasurer of the church, and at the time of the building of the new house of worship he was generous in aiding with his time and money.

ILLIAM H. GAZIN, proprietor of the' Model Paint and Paper Store in Colorado Springs, has made this city his home since

1889. He opened a store at No. 32 North Tejon street, but after a time removed to No. 7 Pike's Peak, and from there in January, 1898, moved to his present location, No. 111 North Tejon, where he has a building 24x100 feet in dimensions, stocked with a complete assortment of wall paper, glass, oils, paints and artists' materials. Through his energy and reliability he has built up a large trade, and has become known as one of the suc- cessful business men of the city.

Mr.Gazin is the son of Francis Gazin, who emi- grated from France to the United States in early manhood and settled in New York City, there learning the confectioner's trade. On removing to Michigan he continued at his trade. About 1843 he became a pioneer of Fond du Lac Coun- ty, Wis., where he cleared a farm from the prime- val woods. After twenty years in that locality, in August, 1863, he settled upon an unimproved farm in McLeod County, Minn., and from a raw tract of land developed a valuable estate. On retiring from agricultural operations he estab- lished his home in Glencoe, the same county. In 1893 he came to Colorado Springs, where he died three years later at eighty-five.

The mother of our subject was Mary Violet, a native of France. She was brought to the United States by her father, Francis Violet, who was a machinist by trade, but improved a farm in York state and later bought farming property in Min- nesota. He died in Glencoe, when eighty-five, and his wife was eighty-four at the time of her death. Their daughter, Mrs. Gazin, is still liv- ing and is seventy-four years of age. In religion she is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Of her eight children five are now living, our sub-

in Fond du Lac County, Wis., February 12, 1859. In 1863 he was taken by his parents to Minnesota and for some years remained on a farm in Mc- Leod County. From fourteen until nineteen years of age he studied in the public schools of Glencoe. The summer of 1878 he spent at Cas- tleton, N. Dak., and from there went east, where he attended the business college at Paterson, N. J., and afterward was employed in New Jersey for one year. On his return to the west he worked at the carpenter's trade with his brother in Clay Center, Kan., for four years, when he accidentally injured his left thumb to such an ex- tent that it was necessary for him to seek another occupation. He took painting and learned every department of the business. He engaged in con- tract painting in Clay Center until he came to Colorado Springs. While in Minnesota he mar- ried Miss Mary Boyce, who was born in Illinois. They have four children: Nellie, a student in Nazareth Academy; Arnold, Henry and Char- lotta.

OSEPH G. ALLARD, deputy internal reve- nue collector for southern Colorado, with headquarters in Pueblo, is a descendant of a French family that settled in Montreal in an early day. His grandfather, Joseph Allard, who was a son of the original emigrant from France, was born in Canada and engaged in farming in that country. Next in line of descent was M. A. Allard, a native of Canada, and in 1859 a set- tler in the Green Bay section of Wisconsin, where he cleared and cultivated a farm. After ten years he removed to South Dakota across the line from Iowa and settled on a farm, where he continued to reside until his death. He married Olive Boisvort, who was born in Canada, of French lineage, and died in South Dakota. All of their family, consisting of four sons and seven daugh- ters, reside in South Dakota, with the exception of the subject of this sketch. He was the eldest of the family and was born in Montreal, Canada, September 10, 1850. When nine years of age he accompanied his parents to Wisconsin, where he received a public-school and academic education. In 1869 he went with the family to South Dakota, but remained there for a short time only.

Beginning active business as a commercial sales- man, Mr. Allard traveled for a large lumber com- pany of Chicago and Menominee and after a time settled in Juneau, Dodge County, Wis., where he

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conducted a general mercantile store. For eight years he served as commissioner of Dodge County. During the administration of President Cleve- land, in 1886, he was appointed special agent of the department of the interior, and in 1887-89 traveled through the west, visiting Colorado, among other states. At the expiration of his time as agent he disposed of his interests in the east and settled in Trinidad, Colo., where he carried on a commission business, until he be- came deputy internal revenue collector in 1893. Four years later he was again appointed to the office. In the district with which he is connected and which is the largest in the state, there are twenty-one counties, and the various officials connected with the revenue department are busily engaged in the oversight of their large territory.

While in Juneau, Wis., Mr. Allard was made a Mason, and he is now connected with Silver State Lodge No. 95, of Pueblo. He is also a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Pueblo Club. His marriage took place in Chi- cago, and united him with Miss Marguerite Moreau, who was born in Plattsburg, N. Y. They are the parents of three children: Henry D., Leola and Lucile.

M ARCUS Z. FARWELL, cashier of the La Junta State Bank, was born in Monticello, Iowa, and is a son of Maj. Sewall and Melinda (Nesbitt) Farwell, natives of Ohio. His father removed to Iowa in early life and has since been prominently identified with the banking, political and public interests of the state. With few advantages in youth he nevertheless with zeal and courage won his way in life. To the schooling obtained in youth he has added in later years by careful reading and by habits of close observation, until now he is one of the best-in- formed men in his community. During the Civil war he organized the only company of volunteers raised in Jones County, Iowa. Of this he was chosen captain. The company was incorporated in the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry, and in it he served for three years, receiving promotion to the major's rank before the war closed.

The same spirit which prompted Major Farwell to go forth and do battle for the Union still actu- ates him to remain true to the federal govern- ment he helped to save, and believing the Repub- lican party best calculated to promote national interests and the welfare of the people, he has al-

ways supported its principles. Honoring it by his devotion he has in turn been honored by it in his election to represent the second district of Iowa as a member of congress, in which position he rendered distinguished service at the capital of our country. He is president of the Monticello State Bank and is recognized as one of the lead- ing financiers of his state. A man of Christian character, he is an earnest member of the Bap- tist Church of Monticello, and has also been act- ive in philanthropic and charitable work. His wife, who was also a consistent member of the Baptist Church, passed away in 1891, at fifty- seven years of age. They became the parents of five children. Mary, the eldest, is the wife of H. M. Carpenter, cashier of the Monticello State Bank; Luna is the wife of I. E. Templeton, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Zelma married Capt. W. S. A. Smith and lives in Sioux City, Iowa; Sewall, the youngest of the family, is a resident of Sioux City, Iowa.

The third among the children of the family, our subject was born February 17, 1867. He attended school in his home town until fifteen years of age and then went to Washington, D. C., where he took a course in the Spencerian Busi- ness College. After his graduation he entered the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, where for four years he studied civil engineering and also took a general scientific course. In 1886 he graduated with the degree of B. S. In the spring of 1887 he entered the law department of the Iowa State University at Iowa City, where he remained until graduating the next year, with the degree of LL. B. Meantime he had engaged in teaching school in order to assist in the de- fraying of his college expenses.

Upon completing his law studies in 1888, Mr. Farwell went to Tres Piedras, N. M., to look after the landed interests of his father, who owned one hundred and eighty-six thousand acres of timber land there. This property in 1891 was deeded to our subject. While there he was en- gaged in a general mercantile business at Tres Piedras, and established a branch store at Creede, Colo. In conjunction with others, in January, 1893, he organized the La Junta State Bank, which has paid six per cent. dividends to stock- holders and has proved a sound financial institu- tion. Of this he has been cashier since its or- ganization.

September 2, 1890, Mr. Farwell married Miss Elizabeth P. Coldren, of Iowa City, Iowa, by

JOSEPH HOFFMAN AND SON.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

whom he has two sons, Sewall C. and Marcus Morton. Politically a Republican, Mr. Farwell has been active in local affairs, and since 1896 has been city treasurer of La Junta. He is a member of La Junta Lodge No. 28, K. P., and Euclid Lodge No. 64, A. F. & A. M. In Sep- tember, 1895, he was elected grand master of ex- chequer of the grand lodge of Knights of Pythias of Colorado, and has been re-elected each suc- ceeding year.

OSEPH HOFFMAN, who is engaged in ranching in Costilla County, was born and reared in south Germany, but after the rev- olution of 1849 left his native land and went to Switzerland, thence emigrated to the United States in 1852. His first employment was se- cured in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was con- nected with a tobacco business until the spring of 1855. He was very economical and frugal and saved almost all of his earnings, but the bank in which he placed his deposits failed, leaving him almost penniless. He then went to Indianapolis, Ind., and engaged in cigar manufacturing, but there he had considerable difficulty in collecting money due him. While in that city, in August, 1855, he enlisted in the regular army, and was sent to the Carlisle barracks in Pennsylvania, where the Tenth United States Rifles were or- ganized. During his first year of service he was in Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado. However, this was not his first experience in the west, as in 1852 he had accompanied an expedition from Ohio to survey the town of Herman, Kan. In September, 1855, he had an experience in Indian fighting, meeting the Sioux in an important en- gagement. Afterward the regiment went into winter quarters at Platte Bridge. In the spring of 1856 he was ordered north to Yellowstone Park, and later went down the Missouri, thence to Min- nesota, where he joined the army at Fort Richley in June. At that post he was detailed as hospital steward until 1857. Meanwhile he accompanied an exploring expedition some distance. In 1857 he went down the Mississippi to St. Louis, from there up the Missouri to Fort Leavenworth, and August 18 left that point for Salt Lake City, to take charge of and subdue the Mormons, in com- pany with a large body of troops. However, the soldiers were compelled to stop when within one hundred and thirty miles of Salt Lake Valley, their provision trains having been destroyed by the Mormons. The regulars were in charge of Gen.

Albert Sidney Johnston. Through the loss of the provisions, food became very scarce and high. Flour sold for $1 per pound, while bacon was sold at $1 for twelve ounces, and the only salt to be had was what was stolen from Mormon hunting par- ties.

In the spring of 1858 the troops proceeded to Salt Lake Valley, and in August started back to Fort Bridges, Utah, where they spent the winter. Afterward Colonel Canby came to Utah and as- sumed command of that division. In the spring of 1860 General Canby was at Camp Floyd. While Mr. Hoffman still lacked six months of having served his time, the men were ordered east and the colonel proposed to give him his dis- charge at once, provided he would take the colo- nel's family from Fort Bridges to Camp Floyd and thence to Fort Garland. He accepted the proposition and with six men as escort for the family conveyed them to Fort Garland. He was discharged April 30, 1860, which severed his con- nection with the army.

During the San Juan gold excitement, in the fall of 1860,Mr. Hoffman invested all of his money in wheat, with which he started for the gold dis- trict. Meanwhile, however, the "bubble had burst" and he was glad to sell to Ferd Meyer for $2 and $2.25 a barrel flour for which he had paid $6.25. He then turned his attention to farming, but after one year entered the government em- ploy, in which he continued until 1865, and then resumed farming. He put in a large crop of oats, but it was destroyed by the grasshoppers. In the fall of 1865 he established a still at San Luis, and this he conducted for two years, but in 1867 the laws became so rigid that it was impossible to conduct the business satisfactorily and he aban- doned it in the spring of 1867. Buying a hay ranch, he sold hay to the government, and con- tinued successfully for ten years. In 1878 he was elected to the second state assembly for the coun- ties of Costilla and Conejos. The same year he bought a large contract to be shipped to Leadville, but the parties to whom he sold having failed, he was obliged to transfer the hay by team from Canon City. Times were prosperous in Leadville then and hay was worth $140 a ton. He acquired some property in Leadville and conducted the Garland corral from the spring of 1879 until 1880, when hay became so scarce that it was impossi- ble to secure it in any quantities. When the strike came, he, in common with every one there, was ruined in the hay and grain trade. He bor-

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rowed money enough to bring his family back to Fort Garland, and left Leadville with a debt of about $10,000, on which he paid eighteen per cent interest. For years afterward he struggled against the adverse tide of fortune. In 1889, his only son, then within a few days of twenty years, was murdered, which inflicted a heavy loss upon him, leaving him alone and with no one to help him. He was unable to keep his property and it was foreclosed, nothing being left but a steam hay press and two steam threshing outfits. To add to his troubles, he lost his eyesight from cataract. In 1892 some friends loaned him money to have an operation performed and he went to Denver, where he was successful in gaining restored vis- ion. Returning with a debt of $400, he engaged in stock-raising and farming, and has since been uniformly prosperous.

A stanch Republican, he was the only one in Costilla precinct in 1861 who voted that ticket. He has held numerous local offices, which he has filled efficiently. In 1876 he was unanimously elected county commissioner. Fraternally he is connected with Huerfano Lodge No. 27, A. F. & A. M. March 6, 1866, he married Mary Mc Sor- ley, by whom he had an only son, Rudolph, de- ceased.

DWARD H. DAY, one of the leading under- writers of Trinidad, also secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of this city, was born in England in 1856, a son of Edward H. and Georgina Sarah (Mant) Day. His father, who was well known in scientific and educational circles, was a man of great literary ability and broad knowledge. In 1861 he outlined a chart for a tunnel proposed to be constructed under the English Channel. Coming to the United States, he accepted a position as professor of natural sci- ences in the New York Normal College, and was also, at one time, librarian of the Columbia Col- lege School of Mines. He was a valued contrib- utor to Johnson's Encyclopedia and to other works of educational value. Finally, failing health induced him to go to Algiers, in the hope that the change might prove of benefit, but the hope was futile, and he died there when sixty-two years of age. His brother, Sir John C. Day, of Lon- don, was one of the three judges before whom Charles Stewart Parnell was tried. Another brother, W. Henry Day, went to Australia in an early day, and is now a large sheep owner there, and is also justice of a court.

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Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 100

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1530

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1530