Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 101

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 101

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The mother of our subject died in New York City in 1885. In her family there had been nine children, and five of these are now living, namely: Georgina, wife of W. W. Green, a merchant of Bristol, England; Edward H .; Emily C., who is connected with the University Extension course in London; Thomas F., of New York City, editor of the Rudder, and author of a volume of poems entitled "Songs of the Sea;" and W. H., a stockman, residing in Trinidad.

The education of our subject was obtained in Prior Park College, England. After coming to the United States he was employed as clerk in a broker's office in New York City for six years. Later, for two years, he clerked in the Fifth National Bank of New York. Coming to Trini- dad in 1880, he took up government land in the Stonewall country, and for five years he followed farm pursuits and stock-raising. In 1885 he came to the city as clerk for H. B. Mckinney. In 1889 he received an appointment from the post- master, John H. Fox, as the first mail deliverer in Trinidad, in which capacity he was retained for six years. In the spring of 1895 he bought out the Roberts and Lindsey agencies, and since then has engaged in a general fire and plate glass insurance business, also in dealing in real estate. He represents several of the best foreign and American insurance companies. In addition to his business interests, for three years he has been secretary of the Chamber of Commerce.

At the annual meeting of the Local Insurance Agency Association of Colorado, of which he is a member, in October, 1897, he read a paper on the subject, "Is Underwriting a Profession?" This article was published in many of the leading insurance papers of the United States and Eng- land. He is identified with the National Under- writers' Association of America, and at its annual meeting, held in Detroit, July 15, 1898, he read a paper entitled, "How can Underwriting be made a Profession?" This has been copied into many leading insurance journals. He has also written a number of short stories for leading sporting magazines in America and Europe.

Fraternally Mr. Day is a member of Las Animas Lodge No. 28, A. F. & A. M., and is connected with the Eastern Star, of which he is past worthy patron. He has passed the chairs in the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Degree of Honor. The Fraternal Union also numbers him among its members. After the opening of the Spanish-American war he became the prime

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mover in the organization of the Trinidad Patri- otic League, in which he holds the office of secre- tary and which has done much to arouse the latent patriotism of the people. Politically he is a Democrat.

In every enterprise with which Mr. Day is identified he has had the sympathetic co-opera- tion of his wife, who is a lady of culture and refinement, as well as recognized ability. Prior to her marriage in 1881, she was Miss Alys M. Sawyer. She was born Georgetown, Mass., and descends, through her grandmother, whose maid- en name was Ann Little, from George Little, a Pilgrim on the "Mayflower." Her parents are Edward J. and Sarah (Thurlow) Sawyer; the former for many years a wholesale merchant of New York City, is now postmaster of Stamford, Colo., where he also owns a ranch. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Day are: Edward H., Jr., Cecil T. and Alys G.

OLIN C. SUTHERLAND, the owner of a large cattle ranch in Lincoln County, was

D born in Sterling, Ontario, Canada, in 1856, and is of Scotch lineage. His father, who bore the name of George Sutherland and was a native of Scotland, emigrated to Canada at nineteen years of age, and for some time engaged in busi- ness as a distiller there. In 1862 he removed to Saginaw, Mich., where he became a prominent business man, but in 1870 disposed of his Can- adian interest and settled in Osceola, Iowa, there carrying on a commission business until his death in 1875. He was a consistent and devout mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally he was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife was Isabella McDuffy, daughter of a farmer in Scotland, where she was born. Her death occurred in Osceola six years after the demise of her husband.

The family of which our subject is a member originally comprised four sons and two daughters, but the latter, Diana C. and Margaret, died (mar- ried) at the respective ages of thirty-two and twenty-six years. Donald is an engineer on the Missouri Pacific Railroad; John has been con- nected with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad ever since it was organized, and is now an engineer on its line out of Burlington; and David is an engineer on the Toledo, Peoria & Wabash Railroad out of Peoria, Il1.

When a boy our subject lived in Michigan and Iowa. He took a business course in Davenport,

Iowa, and at the age of sixteen became a clerk in a bank at Osceola, where he remained for seven years. Through his instrumentality five new banks were started, and for three years he had charge of one of these, at Marysville, Kan. Afterward he was employed as traveling sales- man for a year, and then became interested in railroading. For four years he was engaged as fireman on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, after which he was with the Rock Island road in Kansas and Colorado. In 1889 he first came to Colorado, and for two years after- ward continued with the Rock Island Rail- road Company. On leaving the road he settled upon a ranch in Lincoln County and began in the cattle business, which he has since conducted, on an increasing scale. All of the improvements on the place represent his own work and prove him to be an industrious, persevering and capable man. Especially is his success commendable when it is remembered that he has worked his way, wholly unaided, and has had many ob- stacles to overcome since he started out for him- self. In 1897 he organized the Lincoln County Cattle Growers' Association (since which time he has been the president of the same), which prac- tically embodies all the cattle growers of the county in its membership. While he was con- nected with railroading he was a prominent worker and one of the grand officers of the Brotherhood of Firemen.

ILLIAM DOW, M. D., who is a success- ful physician of La Junta, was born in Barnett, Ontario, Canada, December 10, 1859. He spent his boyhood days on the home farm and in attendance upon the public schools of the neighborhood. He took the regular course of study in the high school at Fergus, from which he graduated with a high standing for excellence of work. Later, turning his attention to educa- tional matters as an instructor, he spent three years as a public-school teacher in Ontario. However, it was not his intention to make this occupation his life calling.

After spending three months in St. Catharine's Collegiate Institute as a student of Latin, he en- tered the Toronto Medical School and took the four years' course, but by diligent application he completed the course in three years, and grad- uated with honors. He then entered the New York Polyclinic, where he took a post-graduate course, wishing to gain a more thorough knowl-

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edge of certain departments of the profession. By reason of lung trouble he was induced to se- lect Colorado as his location for professional work.

In the fall of 1886 he settled in Denver, but after a short time there removed to Las Animas, and for three years engaged in practice there and through the adjoining country. From Las Ani- mas he came to La Junta in 1890 and has since engaged in continuous practice here. He is a man of considerable natural ability, to which he has added the knowledge acquired by study in first-class schools. In political faith he is a Dem- ocrat and has taken an interest in politics in his home town. Fraternally he is identified with La Junta Lodge No. 28, K. P.

EMAN R. BULL, M. D., holds a position of prominence as a physician and surgeon in Grand Junction, where he is actively en- gaged in the practice of his profession, and where, also, he has taken an intimate part in matters for the upbuilding of local interests. Especially has he been active in his efforts to improve the sani- tary conditions of the city, upon which, to a de- gree scarcely realized, depends the health of the people. In other lines of local activity he has also been influential. He assisted in the organi- zation of the Mesa County Building and Loan Association, also in the erection of the Canon block in Grand Junction, and has for some years been a director of the Mesa County State Bank of this city.

Dr. Bull was born near Warwick, N. Y., Oc- tober 26, 1862, a son of Sidney and Ruth (Cooley) Bull, natives respectively of New York and New Jersey. His father, who has devoted his active life to farm pursuits, is now living retired in Cameron, Mo., and had previously resided near Amity, Mo., where he settled in 1868. The family is composed of six children, of whom the doctor was the oldest. The others are: Harrison W., a resident of Colorado; Lena S., a teacher in the Grand Junction public schools; Edmund, a resident of Delta, Colo., where he is engaged in the cattle business with his brother H. W .; Al- bert, who resides on the old homestead in Mis- souri, and Raymond, who is with his parents.

When the subject of this sketch was six years of age he was taken to Missouri by his parents, and afterward attended the public schools of Amity. When sixteen years of age he entered the preparatory department of Washburn Col- lege, at Topeka, Kan., where he completed the

preparatory course in 1880, and entering college, took the scientific course, graduating with the class of 1884, as valedictorian. He then entered Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he was given the degree of M. D. in 1887. During the same year he came to Colorado and opened an office in Grand Junction, where he has since built up an extensive practice. In 1891 he returned east for a short time, and took a post- graduate course in the Polyclinic College of New York. In his practice he has met with marked success. He has made a specialty of surgery, in which his skill is recognized not only at home, but in adjoining towns. Since 1893 he has been a member of the state board of health, and his ex- perience and intelligence have been most helpful in the deliberations of the board. He is identi- fied with the Colorado State Medical Society (of which he was vice-president in 1896-97) and the American Medical Association. Since 1889 he has filled the position of physician and surgeon to the Teller Institute (United States Indian school) at Grand Junction, and for the same pe- riod he has acted as physician and surgeon at this point for the Denver & Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Western Railroads.

In Denver, September 4, 1889, Dr. Bull mar- ried Maude W. Price, daughter of George B. Price, of Carrollton, Il1. Mr. Price was the founder of the Carrollton Gazette and had a wide acquaintance among the newspaper men of Illinois. His ability in the field of journalism was so pronounced that he attained a high rank as an editor. When somewhat advanced in life he retired from active business cares, and afterward passed his time in a merited leisure and surround- ed by every comfort. He died when eighty-five years of age, in February, 1895. Dr. and Mrs. Bull have two sons, Sidney Price and Leland R.

HARLES H. WALLIS, sheriff of Mesa County, has made his home in Colorado since 1874. His first place of settlement was near Trinidad, in Las Animas County, and there he continued for fourteen years, herding cattle for Lonny Horn. Of this time, he was for five years on the Cimarron River and for nine years in the Grand Valley. Meanwhile he formed many acquaintances, not only among the cowboys on the frontier, but also the business men of towns and cities. After he had been engaged in herd- ing for a time he began to start a herd of his own, and by degrees became the owner of a bunch

JOHN J. MITCHELL.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of cattle. He is thoroughly familiar with the cattle industry, his long experience having given him a breadth of practical knowledge that proves most helpful to him.

In Platte County, near Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Wallis was born January 9, 1859, a son of John and Anna (Brown) Wallis. When he was two years of age his parents removed to Texas, where, soon afterward his mother died. When the war broke out his father entered the Confederate serv- ice and was given the rank of captain, in which office he continued to serve until the close of the war, and afterward the family returned to Platte County. When almost sixteen years of age our subject left home and came to Colorado, where he has since been identified with the cattle business. In 1897 he was elected on the People's party ticket to the office of sheriff, which he has since efficiently filled, his long life upon the frontier especially qualifying him for the office. He and his wife, who was formerly Miss Mamie Fletcher, and whom he married May 4, 1891, make their home in Grand Junction, where they have many friends. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World, and is also a member of the Odd Fellows' Lodge at Grand Junction.

OHN J. MITCHELL, foreman of the Geyser Mining and Milling Company at Silver Cliff, Custer County, was born in Nova Scotia in 1843. He was one of six children, whose father settled in Nova Scotia at eighteen years of age and engaged in farm pursuits. After having completed the studies of the common schools he began to learn the carpenter's trade, and this occupation he followed in his native land for a few years. In 1863 he came to the United States, settling in Boston, and continuing to work at his trade in Massachusetts until he came to Colorado in 1874.

Since making his home in this state Mr. Mitchell has engaged in mining. At first he prospected for himself, covering the territory from New Mexico to the Big Horn River. In every detail connected with mining he has had experience, and his success has been such that he has gained a reputation as a practical miner second to none. He has been connected with many of the large mines. He laid the first track in the Homestake mine in the Black Hills. When the Silver Cliff Mining Company was organized he came to this village and accepted a position in their employ. When that company

was changed to the Geyser Mining and Milling Company in 1886 and the new concern com- menced to sink the shaft now in operation, he continued in various capacities until 1895, and since then has been foreman of the mine. This responsible position he has filled to the entire satisfaction of the company. Of the character of the mine and its operation a description appears in the biography of Caleb H. Johnson, on another page.

During the years that Mr. Mitchell has been foreman there has been but one fatal accident, which, considering that the depth of the shaft is more than twenty-five hundred feet, is a remark- ably good record. In all of his dealings with men he has a reputation for fairness and justice, and this has won for him the respect of the men under him, as well as the regard of his employers. He gives his attention so closely to the mine that he has little opportunity to participate in public affairs. However, he keeps posted regarding national problems and votes the Republican ticket. For several terms he has served as a member of the town council. He is a member of Silver Cliff Lodge No. 38, A. F. & A. M., and Silver Cliff Lodge No. 34, I. O. O. F.

AUL AUGUST H. MENZEL, one of the original members of the colony that settled in what is now Custer County in 1870, is engaged in business as a dealer in hardware and agricultural implements and as a blacksmith and wagon-maker in Westcliffe. A native of Ger- many, he was born in Holstein January 17, 1846, and is a son of Nicholas and Greta Menzel. In his home land he learned the blacksmith's trade. When twenty-one years of age he came to the United States, joining some friends in Chicago, but the climate did not agree with him, and after following his trade there for two years he came to Colorado in 1870.

Settling in the Wet Mountain Valley, August Menzel took up one hundred and sixty acres which he still holds. On his ranch he opened a shop and there carried on a good trade, besides managing his land. When the village of Silver Cliff was started he opened a shop there, and at the same time handled implements as well. While he still owns the ranch, for the past four- teen years it has been cultivated by tenants, al- though for some few years his family has been spending the summers on the farm and the win- ters in town. When Westcliffe was started, in

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1885, he moved his shop to this village and built his present store building, 20x60, which he used for farm implements. In 1889 he bought out the hardware stock of Mr. Tomkins, and utilized his store building for that stock, putting up a ware- house for the implements. Since then he has con- ducted these varied lines of business with success.

When the creamery was started, in the spring of 1897, Mr. Menzel was one of the incorporators of the company and is now its treasurer. He owns about thirty head of milch cows and raises cattle, as well as gives considerable attention to the raising of grain. He is one of the most in- fluential Germans in the county and has many friends among the people of his neighborhood. Fraternally he is identified with the Westcliffe Camp No. 309, Woodmen of the World, Since the organization of the village he has served as a member of the town board, and in that position, as well as in the capacity of a private citizen, he has endeavored to promote plans for the general welfare. His political views bring him into affiliation with the Republican party. In re- ligious matters he adheres to the Lutheran faith.

The first marriage of Mr. Menzel, in 1876, united him with Lizzie Ogreste, who died, leaving a daughter, Mary, now the wife of Christ Hansen, of Westcliffe. In 1879 Mr. Menzel married Lena Stirnar. Of this union nine children were born, but two of these are deceased. The living are: Staley, Armour, Charles, Gustave, Henry, Luella and Clara.

ALTER SCOTT, an attorney of Colorado Springs, is a descendant of a Scotch family that removed to the north of Ireland at the time of the religious persecutions in Scotland. After the siege of Derry, in 1689, they emigrated to Pennsylvania and settled in Adams County, whence subsequent generations drifted to various parts of the country. During the war of 1812 John Scott, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, served as a major-general, and afterward as a member of the twenty-first congress.

His son, John Scott, father of Walter Scott, was born at Alexandria, Huntingdon County, Pa., in 1823. In November, 1842, he went to Chambersburg, and became a student of law in the office of Alexander Thomson. Admitted to the bar in 1846, he opened an office at Hunting- don, Pa .; in 1857 he was appointed counsel of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for Cam- bria, Blair and Huntingdon Counties.

In 1861 Mr. Scott was elected to the Pennsyl- vania legislature. In 1869 he was chosen United States senator to succeed Charles R. Buckalew, and served for six years with the greatest effi- ciency. In his "Twenty Years in Congress" James G. Blaine alludes to him as follows: "John Scott, whose father had been a representative in congress, succeeded Mr. Buckalew as senator from Pennsylvania. Mr. Scott had taken but little part in politics and had been altogether de- voted to his profession as a lawyer, but his serv- ices in the senate were distinguished by intel- ligence and fidelity." While filling this office, President Grant offered him the secretaryship of the Interior, but he declined the honor. At the close of his senatorial term, in 1875, he removed from Huntingdon to Pittsburgh and took charge of the legal business, pertaining to the lines west of Pittsburgh, for the Pennsylvania Company. Upon the resignation of William J. Howard in November, 1877, he was chosen to succeed him in the management of the legal department of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in Philadelphia and became general solicitor for the company and its allied lines. As a lawyer he stood in the very front rank of the profession and was considered by his confreres as one of the most learned, able and accomplished members of the fraternity.

While in Philadelphia he was active in church work; and served as a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and a director and trustee of the Princeton Theological Seminary. He retired from the position of general solicitor of the Penn- sylvania Railroad in Febraury, 1895, and died November 29, 1896. By his marriage to Annie Eyster, a native of Chambersburg, Pa., and now a resident of Philadelphia, he had ten children, all of whom are still living. The subject of this sketch and his sister, Mrs. D. V. Donaldson, are the only members of the family who reside in this state, and both make Colorado Springs their home. The former was born in Huntingdon, Pa., and attended private schools in Philadelphia when a boy. In 1885 he entered the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1889, with honors and the degree of A. B. In 1889 he went to Pittsburgh, where he was cashier of the Pennsylvania Lead Company. While there he studied law under his brother, William Scott, a member of the firm of Dalzell, Scott & Gordon, and in 1893 was admitted to the bar, after which he engaged in practice in the same city. In Oc- tober, 1897, he came to Colorado Springs and

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opened an office for the practice of law, besides which, since January, 1898, he has been secretary cf the Colorado Electric Power Company, whose plant is at Canon City. His political connections are with the Republican party, while in religion he is identified with the Presbyterian Church.

ILLIAM W. CANTRIL, a pioneer of West- cliffe, Custer County, was born in Ohio June 15, 1821. He is of Scotch lineage. His grandfather, John Cantril, emigrated from Scot- land to America and engaged in the lumber busi- ness in Virginia, from which state he removed to Kentucky and later went to Ohio. He married a Miss Williams, and of their children John, our subject's father, was the eldest. He was born in Kentucky and accompanied his parents to Ohio, where he engaged in the lumber business. Later removing to Iowa he operated a sawmill on the Des Moines River. The last twenty years of his life were passed in Union County, Iowa. Inter- ested in military affairs, he was one of the officials in the musters of the day and was promoted from captain to colonel. Until the disintegration of the party he was a Whig, after which he affiliated with the Republicans. In religion he was a Meth- odist. By his marriage to Mary Williams he had eight sons and one daughter, but the latter died when fourteen years of age. Of the family only two survive, our subject, who was the oldest, and Thomas, the youngest, now engaged in the saw- mill business in Iowa.

In the schools of Logan County our subject re- ceived a fair education. Early in life he engaged with his father in the milling and mercantile bus- iness. When twenty-one years of age he accom- panied his parents to Iowa, where they took up land and conducted farm pursuits and a sawmill. He started a store, in Warren County and was also extensively engaged in the cattle business. Prosperity attended him until the outbreak of the Civil war, when his unfortunate location, on the line between Iowa and Missouri, caused him to lose all he had. In 1861 he collected as many head of his stock as he could find and with them started for Colorado. Afterward he engaged in freighting, making seven round trips. In 1864 he took up a ranch on Cherry Creek, twenty-five miles south of Denver, and there he built up a valuable homestead, becoming extensively en- gaged in the cattle business. In 1870 he bought a sawmill about four miles from his ranch and added milling to his other lines of business. In

1873 he built a large store on his ranch and put in a stock of general merchandise. Unfortunate- ly, the destruction of his mill by fire and the loss of his store in a storm in 1877 and 1878 entailed such heavy losses on him that he was deprived of almost the entire accumulation of his years of effort. He then built two large mills on the di- vide, about half-way between Denver and Pueblo, and there did a large business, running the mill night and day.

In the spring of 1879 Mr. Cantril moved both mills to the Wet Mountain Valley and started in business here, where he has since engaged; up to 1884 he had his lumber yard in Silver Cliff, but in that year he moved to Westcliffe, where he has since made his home. He was almost the first settler in Westcliffe. He put up a hotel when there was but one house in the town. The building is a commodious one, two stories high, with a frontage of one hundred and twenty-five feet, and containing forty-two rooms. He has eight or ten other houses here, some of which he moved from Silver Cliff, while others he erected here. His property holdings are extensive and valuable; his hotel covers five lots and the saw- mill nine lots, while he owns considerable addi- tional real estate in the village. He was one of the original stockholders in the creamery and has borne his share in the development of this indus- try, as well as other local enterprises. Since building the hotel he has carried it on constantly, with the exception of two years, during which time he rented it.

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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 101

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