Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 108

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 108

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April 15, 1884, near Lexington, Mo., Mr. Love married Miss Nancy D., daughter of Louis W. and Eliza P. Cox. Miss Cox was born near Lexing- ton December 14, 1861, received her education at Woodland College, Independence, Mo., where she was graduated Jnne 6, 1880. Her father, Louis Cox, is a successful farmer near Lexing- ton, Mo., and is a son of Solomon Cox, who re- moved from Virginia to Missouri in early days and became a large land-owner and stockman.

Eliza P. (Fletcher) Cox, mother of Mrs. Love, is a daughter of James Fletcher, who was also a Virginian and pioneer of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Love are the parents of six children: Mary E., born April 3, 1885; Eda R., September 18, 1887; Louis J., January 27, 1889; Lilian B., May 16, 1891; Milo R., February 10, 1895; and Nancy J., May 15, 1897.

2 E WITT CLINTON TRAVIS, justice of the peace, is a well-known stock-raiser and ranchman of Saguache County, residing four miles east of Moffat. He was born in West- chester County, N. Y., in 1830, and is a descend- ant of one of three brothers who came to America from England prior to the Revolutionary war, settling upon a grant of land given them in West- chester County by King George. During the Revolution David Travis held the command of captain. His son John was born in Westchester County, and followed farming and cattle-raising. In politics he was a Whig. By his marriage to Margaret Ferris, of Stamford, Conn., he had three children, viz .: DeWitt Clinton, named in honor of the famous statesman, whom John Travis ar- dently admired; David, deceased; and Eliza, who married Joseph Travis and resides in Sagnache County. A son of this sister, George C. Travis, was a member of the firm of J. J. Little & Co., who printed Grant's Memoirs, with one edition of six hundred thousand volumes.

Early in life our subject began to assist in the cultivation of the homestead. When sixteen years of age he entered the store of Louis Bell, of Sing Sing, where he remained for five years, meantime learning the mercantile business thor- oughly. In 1852, seized with the gold fever, he started for California, crossing the Isthmus of Panama over what is now the route of the Pan- ama canal. After thirty-five days he reached his destination. He was acquainted with James and D. O. Mills, and by them was induced to go to Columbia, where they held interests. In that section of country he began mining on his own account. He was one of the projectors of the Columbia Stanislaus River Water Company, who brought water sixty miles through the mountain to the mines, at an expense, when completed, of $1,250,000, although the estimated cost had been $350,000. They had one continuous flume along some cliffs, fourteen miles in length, where it was impossible to build a ditch, as the creek was over one hundred feet below. They crossed the river with a flume, one hundred and ninety-two feet high, and built a tunnel through a mountain three-quarters of a mile in length to take the water through. Owing to litigation concerning this fiume he lost his interest in it. For three years he bought gold dust in the town of Colum- bia, after which he bought an interest in silver mines in Aurora, Nev., one of which was the noted Real Del Monte. With his partners he put up a mill which was excelled by only one mill in the state and which contained all the mod- ern improvements, running forty tons of ore a day, with thirty grinding pans and fifteen amal- gamators. Stock in this mine at one time sold as high as $500 a share, but the ore finally gave out and Mr. Travis lost considerable through depreciation in value.

From Nevada Mr. Travis went down to the Owens River Valley in southern California to secure some petroleum springs he had heard of, and on the way he stopped at Fort Independence. At Owens Lake he met two men coming up, one of whom asked him to stop at his place on an errand. Here the man offered to trade him some "jerked" meat for some of his bacon. Later he ascertained that this "jerked" meat was human flesh, a part of the body of the original owner (Rodger), who had been killed and served up afterward to the traveling people by the then occupant, King, who was convicted of the crime and hung. Not liking that sort of meat he refused it, but gave the man

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

some bacon. He crossed Walker Pass and struck a new mining town called Havillah, where he met some old friends who were prospering there. He bought an adjacent mine which promised well. The first crushing of ore paid $83 per ton, but when in fifty feet the supply was exhausted, so he sold out for what he could get.

From Havillah, in 1866, Mr. Travis came to Colorado. Mr. Bruckner, who patented the proc- ess for desulphizing ore, wanted him to intro- duce the process in this state. Upon his arrival in Central City the miners had become tired of trying, without success, so many processes, but they offered to take hold of it if he would prove its merits. Not having the money himself, he wrote Mr. Bruckner, who came out and put up the works in Georgetown, which have been a success ever since.

After looking at some mines in Georgetown Mr. Travis decided there was no opening for him at that camp, so he went on to Bear River. He bought some oxen to pack supplies and butcher after getting there. With him he car- ried $900 worth of supplies, but as the oxen would not pack the goods he traded them for mules. Crossing Berthoud Pass into Middle Park, with constant rain to contend with, he slowly proceeded on his way. At Hot Sulphur Springs he inet a band of Indians and some miners, who reported that their objective point was a humbug, so they decided to go no further. They traded their supplies to the Indians for buckskins, which he took to Denver, but instead of getting the amount he expected, he was paid only $2.50. He opened two meat markets in Denver, one on F street, the other on Arapahoe, in which he aimed to keep the best kinds of meats. To illustrate the prices then in vogue one circumstance may be given: a man coming west brought twelve turkeys, which Mr. Travis bought for $8 each. For the choice of the first two he was paid $30 by Amos Steck, ex-mayor of Denver, and for the balance $12 each. The man who paid $30 for the two turkeys bought a towni lot for $2.50 and in twenty years' time sold it for $65,000. Lots that Mr. Travis advised Mr. Bruckner to buy for $300 or $400 afterward sold for as high as $60,000.

At the first fair given in Denver Mr. Travis bought for $50 the calf that took the first pre- mium. He butchered it, and, when dressed, it weighed four hundred and eighty pounds; the most of it he sold at thirty or thirty-five cents a

pound, clearing over $50 on it. In a lot of calves he brought from the Arkansas one got away and was not found for some time; when he found it and had it butchered the meat was quite dark and lean, but by marking it buffalo calf he not only made some money, but played a practical joke on the people, one man coming for it three times, saying it was the best buffalo he ever ate. He bought as high as five hundred pounds of trout from one man. These were packed in a dry-goods box and frozen. He paid $75 for them and received from sixty cents to $1 a pound for the entire lot. He continued in business until the Union Pacific Railroad was built through to Cheyenne, Wyo., when there was a general, ex- odus from Denver and his trade decreased mate- rially. Selling ont he went to Granite, near Leadville, where he engaged in mining; he had bought some mines by examination of specimens reported to have come from them, but after he had investigated the mines he found them worth- less, the specimens having been brought from other mines.

When the cattle-raising business began to at- tract general attention Mr. Travis was induced to come to the San Luis Valley by Governor Gilpin, who owned the grant and offered him land at government price. In 1869 he sent a man to the valley to locate some land for him adjoining the grant and build him a house. At the same time he wrote Governor Gilpin, with whom he was acquainted, inquiring his price for three thousand acres on Crestone Creek. The governor replied that he would meet him a certain day at Mr. Wales' place, which he did, but finally told him he had offered the land to parties in Europe. Mr. Travis then settled on the San Isabel, which he named and of which he was the first settler. He erected the first house in the county that had a shingle roof. His nearest neighbor was Ed Wales, four miles distant, and the nearest post- office was Saguache, thirty miles away. Indians roamed at will in bands of three or four hundred, up and down the valley. All the surroundings were those of primitive days. Adding to his land from time to time, he now controls seven thou- sand acres of his own and state lands, upon which he raises as much as eleven hundred tons of hay for feed. His wheat, oats and barley received premiums at the World's Fair, and he was given a medal and diploma bearing his name; at state fairs where he has exhibited he has invariably won noticeable recognition. He raised the first

EDWARD FARR.

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peaches grown in this valley and received $5 each for his first crop, having had an offer for that amount made by a lady who thought it impossi- ble to raise peaches here. At one fair he took eleven premiums, and at another six premiums out of seven exhibits. He has raised cabbages weighing twenty-five pounds, rutabagas weigh- ing twenty-eight pounds, beets from eighteen to twenty pounds, and potatoes five and one-fourth pounds. One stool of oats from one seed on his ranch branched out into one hundred and fifty perfect stems, with perfect heads, with an average of two hundred and forty oats on each stem, making thirty six thousand oats from one seed.

The ranch has four different artesian wells used for watering stock, besides the running water from creeks. Several of the fields are three miles long and two or three miles wide. It is principally used for stock grazing, and Mr. Travis has had as many as twelve hundred head of cattle on the ranch at one time. The grain that he raises is used exclusively for feed in winter. He was one of the company that founded the town of Saguache, in which he built one of the first houses. For twenty-six years he has been postmaster at San Isabel. He was reared a Whig and now in- clines toward the Republican party, but in local matters votes for the best man, irrespective of party. He has never been a candidate for office, but at the solicitation of his friends accepted the position of justice of the peace for the convenience of his neighbors. April 22, 1895, he was ap- pointed inspector for Saguache County of the state board of agriculture, which position he has held ever since. In 1877 he married Mary A., daughter of Henry and Martha Pratt, of Pontiac, Mich. He has no children of his own, but has adopted a son, Frank, now eleven years of age.

J DWARD FARR, sheriff of Huerfano County, has successfully engaged in the cattle busi- ness for years, in fact, ever since he was a boy. It was in 1887 that he came to this county with a herd of cattle and here he has since en- gaged in the stock business, being the owner of a fine ranch near Walsenburg, and another ranch near Springer, N. M. As his partner in the raising of cattle and horses he has a brother, Jefferson B. Farr, the firm title being Farr Brothers. For some years, and until 1897, the firm carried on a meat business in Walsenburg, this being an adjunct of their stock industry.

Born in southern Texas in 1864, Mr. Farr is a

son of David H. and Martha Ann (Hurston) Farr, natives respectively of Illinois and Indiana. His father, who went south in early days, was one of the pioneers of Texas, where he has since carried on a stock business. During the Civil war he served as captain of a company of Texas rangers, organized to suppress the Indians. His wife died in 1878, aged fifty-four years. Of their twelve children, six are now living, Edward be- ing the youngest of the entire family. When a boy he attended the public schools of Austin, Tex. At the age of sixteen he embarked in the cattle business, and with a cattle train went northwest to Montana, where he spent the winter of 1880-81 on a ranch. In the spring he went to New Mexico, where he followed ranching for six years, becoming the owner of a large bunch of cattle. From New Mexico he moved his cattle into Huerfano County.

As an active participant in Republican politics, Mr. Farr has become well known throughout his county. In 1895 he was elected sheriff, and two years later was re-elected. Prior to his election to this office he served as deputy sheriff, deputy treasurer, and other positions of a similar nature. For the work of sheriff his long experience of frontier life admirably fits him, as do also his coolness in danger and his sound business judg- ment. In fraternal relations he is connected with Wajatoya Tribe of Red Men and the Wood- men of the World. In 1896 he was united in marriage with Miss Nellie A. Hern, who was born in New Mexico, but at the time of her mar- riage was living in Kansas City. They are the parents of a daughter, Edwina E.

C OHN J. ABENDSCHAN, proprietor of a general mercantile store at Las Animas, came to Bent County in 1887 and opened a store at Caddoa, where he conducted a fair busi- ness. From there, in 1889, he came to Las Animas and in 1893 erected the building in which he has since carried on a large trade in dry goods, groceries, shoes, hats and caps. He is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and was born June 11, 1841, to the union of Jacob and Rachel (Riner) Abendschan, being the youngest of their seven children. He and his sister, Catherine, were the only members of the family who attained mature years, and he now alone survives.

Since 1846 Mr. Abendschan has made his home in the United States. July 22, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and

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remained in the service until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge. Besides numerous skirmishes, he took part in seventeen battles. He was at Corinth and Chattanooga and accompanied Sherman to the sea. At Kene- saw Mountain he was shot through the right shoulder, the bone being broken; he lay on the battlefield all night and the following day was taken to a hospital at Marietta, Ga., and two weeks later transferred to Rome, Ga. After a time he was sent home on a furlough. This was in July, 1864; he had been previously wounded, in May of the same year, at Dallas, Ga., where he received a flesh wound in the right leg. He did not permit this wound to keep him long from his command, but returned to service before it had healed.

On his return home after the war Mr. Abend- schan engaged in the tannery business. April 8, 1866, he married Miss Catherine Sudder, who was born in Germany and accompanied her parents to America, settling in Washington County, Ohio. For five years Mr. Abendschan continued in the tannery business, but then sold out and started a fertilizing plant, manufacturing fertilizer from bones. This business he carried on successfully for seven years. In 1888 he moved to Stanton County, Kan., where he en- gaged in farming on a claim he had homesteaded. During his two years' residence there he lost con- siderable money. Concluding it would be unwise to remain there longer, in 1887 he came to Colo- rado and settled in Bent County, where he now resides.

Mr. and Mrs. Abendschan are the parents of six children, namely: Catherine, Mrs. Hugo Schneider, of Las Animas, who has one child; Jacob, a farmer of Bent County, who is married and has three children; Tillie, who died at nine- teen years of age and is buried at Las Animas; Henry, who lives at Las Animas, is married and has one child; Anna, at home with her parents; and Victor, who died in Las Animas at the age of twelve years. All of the children were born in Ohio and received good educations in common schools.

Since voting for President Lincoln, our subject has always adhered to the Republican party and its principles. He is deeply interested in school work and, as treasurer of the school board, has done all within his power to promote the educa- tional interests of his home town. He was reared in the Lutheran faith, but is now identified with

the Presbyterian Church. While in Ohio he served as treasurer of his church, but has declined official positions in the church here. He is past commander of the Grand Army Post No. 69, and has attended various national reunions, and in company with old comrades of war days, has reviewed the past and renewed its associations over many a campfire.

EORGE BERNARD, of Colorado Springs, president and manager of the Elkton Con- solidated Mining and Milling Company, and one of the successful operators in the Cripple Creek district, was born in Illinois, of Virginian descent, and, remotely, of French extraction. His grandfather, Valentine, a native of Fluvanna County, Va., was a soldier in the war of 1812 and an aide on the staff of General Jackson. The horse used on the occasion of his ride from home to the inaugural ceremonies in Washington was purchased by Mr. Bernard for General Jackson. After the war was ended he removed to Tennes- see, and later became a pioneer farmer of Adams County, Il1. He spent his last days in Platte County, Mo., where he died about 1890, at nine- ty-six years of age. In religion he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

James M. Bernard, our subject's father, was born in Tennessee and for years engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising in Adams County, Il1. In 1865, removing to Missouri, he settled in Clay County, where he became a large stockman and also served as county judge. At the age of seventy-seven years, he is still living, retired, in Smithville. His wife, who is also living, was Caroline E. Wagy, a native of Ohio and daugh- ter of Henry Wagy, of German descent. Her father, who was born in Ohio, settled upon a farm in Adams County, Ill., and there remained until his death.

The family of James M. and Caroline E. Ber- nard consisted of six sons and one daughter, of whom all are living but one son. George, who was born August 15, 1851, was reared in Illinois until fourteen years of age, when he removed to Clay County, Mo. His education was such as the common schools afforded. He engaged in farming in Clay County until 1886, when he came to Colorado and settled in Colorado Springs. Until 1891 he carried on a grocery business, and on selling it, at the time of the Cripple Creek excitement, he turned his attention to mining, in which, however, he did not meet with success

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until January, 1892. He located the Monarch claim and organized the Monarch Mining Com- pany, of which he has been general manager ever since. In the spring of 1892 he bought an interest in the Elkton mine and incorporated the Elkton Mining and Milling Company, of which he has since been president and general mana- ger. He was interested in the Walter mine, for which, however, there were rival claimants; their difficulties were finally adjusted by the organiza- tion of the Walter Mining Company, with Mr. Bernard as general manager, and through his skillful management the matter of rival claims was amicably and satisfactorily adjusted. The property is one of the most valuable in Cripple Creek and has been developed with great profit to the owners. He is also a director and stock- holder in other mining properties in the same district, among them the El Paso Gold Mining Company, on Beacon Hill, which owns three claims.

Besides his mining interests, Mr. Bernard owns a ranch of twenty-seven hundred acres near Eas- tonville, and twenty-four miles from Colorado Springs. The land is fenced and has an abund- ance of springs, water from which is carried by pipes to the corral and house. Upon this place Mr. Bernard raises Polled-Angus cattle, having probably as fine a herd of that grade of stock as can be found in Colorado. About five hundred acres of the land are devoted to general farming, and, being within the rain belt, potatoes and grain are successfully raised.

Politically Mr. Bernard is a Democrat, and in religion belongs to the Christian Church, of which he is a trustee. He built and now oc- cupies a residence at No. 601 North Tejon street. In Platte County, Mo., he married Miss Lucy F. Karr, who was born there, her father, Will- iam, having removed from Kentucky to a farm in Platte County.

OSE M. ARCHULETA, JR., the leading business man of Lumberton, N. M., and the owner of large property interests in Archuleta County, Colo., was born in Conejos County, this state, April 26, 1858, a son of Jose Manuel Archuleta, Sr., who was a pioneer of this section of the state. In 1876 he removed from Conejos to what is now Archuleta County and took up land on the Navajo River, where he was one of the earliest settlers and engaged in farming and stock-raising. With him from Conejos he brought

five hundred head of sheep and seventeen cows, which herd he has increased until he now owns fifteen hundred head of cattle and seventy thou- sand head of sheep, being the largest stock dealer in Archuleta County, where he owns two thou- sand acres. In addition he conducts a general store at Lumberton, and owns fifteen hundred acres in Conejos County, where he has six hun- dred head of cattle. Since 1890 he has had the government contract to furnish beef to the Apache Indian reservation, which he has supplied with four hundred head each year.

In 1885, upon the separation of Archuleta from Conejos County, Mr. Archuleta was elected coun- ty judge, on the Republican ticket, and this office he filled until 1892, when he resigned to turn his attention wholly to business. At first he carried on business at Amargo, N. M., but moved to Lumberton in 1893. In 1898 he erected a roller mill, with a capacity of fifty barrels of flour daily; he has also built the only mill in Archuleta County. In 1896 he was elected to represent the counties of Rio Arriba, Taos and San Jaun in the New Mexico legislature, where he served for two years. In 1876 he married Genevieve Gomez, who died in 1890, leaving a daughter, her name- sake. In 1893 Mr. Archuleta married Miss Eduviges Salazar, by whom he has two children, Jose M. and Eduviges.

2 ROF. JOHN L. BOGGS. The name of this gentleman has been long associated with the professional and commercial interests of Pueblo County and his life history forms an essential part of the annals of this section of the state. Over thirty years ago he located on the present site of Beulah, the first man to make a settlement there, and since that time he has been a leader in many of the movements which have resulted in the upbuilding and improvement of the town. He is a western man by birth, train- ing and preference, and is thoroughly imbued with the true western spirit of progress.

Mr. Boggs was born in Calloway County, near Jefferson City, Mo., in 1823, and spent his early life on a farm in that locality. For many years his father, Lawrence, practiced law in Missouri, but his last days were spent in Lynn County, Ore. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Newsom, was of German lineage. The subject of this review attended the public schools until sixteen years of age and then entered Columbia College, in Boone County, Mo., where

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he was graduated in 1839 at the head of his class, which numbered thirty-seven members. He took the first prize as an orator and throughout his entire life has been distinguished for his oratorical ability. On the completion of his college course he resumed farming, but later engaged in mer- chandising and subsequently practiced law in Missouri until about thirty-five years of age.

In 1860, the year prior to the territorial organization, Mr. Boggs came to Colorado. He represented Douglas County in the first legisla- ture and took an active part in formulating the early policy of the territory. Subsequently he practiced law in Denver and won many noted forensic combats when pitted against such cele- brated lawyers as Judge Hallett and others. In 1864 he participated in the Indian war, raising the Third Colorado Regiment to fight the red men, for which he receives a substantial pension. About that time he was connected with a stage line and telegraph office, and in 1868 he made the first settlement in Beulah, where he has since made his home with the exception of one year spent in the vicinity of Pueblo. Here he has dealt in stock and also practiced law to a greater or less extent. He has a comprehensive knowl- edge of the science of jurisprudence and has en- joyed a fair clientage. He has considerable ability as a phrenologist, and has followed that profession to some extent.

He was first married in 1841, when Elizabeth Graham became his wife. After her death he was again married, in 1860, his second union being with Fannie E. Skinner, who has also passed away. His present wife was in maiden- hood Pearl C. Windett. He is the father of five sons: David W., who is living in southern Colo- rado; Louis G., of California; Oliver L., who is financially interested in a stage line in Arizona; George B., who is engaged in mining in Rio Grande, Colo .; and John D., a physician of Win- chester, Okla. There are also seven grandchil- dren and one great-grandchild.

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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 108

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