Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 110

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 110

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During the Civil war Mr. Cook was a stanch supporter of the Union. In December, 1862, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, in which he served for two years and three months. Among the battles in which he took part were those of Shiloh and Corinth. He is a pronounced believer in Republican principles, and in 1898 was nomi- nated and duly elected by his party for county commissioner. For years he has been identified with the school board, in which body he has ren- dered efficient service. Interested in irrigation, he was long the treasurer of a ditch company here. As a citizen he stands high in his com- munity. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has for years held an official position.

OWARD H. DAWSON, M. D., came to Rico in November, 1892, and formed a partnership with Dr. F. A. McNeill, which still continues. Devoting his time to the study and practice of his chosen profession, he has met with success and has built up a practice that extends through this section of country. From 1894 to 1896 he served as a member of the town board, to which office he was elected on the Populist ticket. Since 1894 he has been county

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physician of Dolores County and for two years he Denver schools. When a youth he spent two served as health commissioner of Rico. Active in local affairs he has contributed to the advance- ment of enterprises for the benefit of the town. He has taken part in the political life of the town and county and for several years was a member of the county central committee.

Dr. Dawson was born in Frankfort, Ky., in 1867, a son of James A. and Margaret (Conley) Dawson, natives respectively of Kentucky and Ohio. His father, a man of great ability and prominence, and an attorney by profession, be- came one of the leading men of his native state. Not only was he successful at law, but in the realm of journalism he also held high rank. For some time he was proprietor and editor of the Evening Ledger at Louisville, Ky. At the close of the Civil war he was chosen adjutant-general of Kentucky, which office he filled for three years, and he also served as register of the land office at Frankfort. At one time he was a candidate for lieutenant-governor of the state of Kentucky. His sympathies during the war were on the Union side and he devoted considerable time to his work as a recruiting officer; he held the rank of colonel in the army.

Leaving his old Kentucky home in 1879, Gen- eral Dawson came to Colorado and settled in Denver, where he became associated with F. J. Mott in a law partnership. The remainder of his life was spent there. For a number of years he edited and published the Colorado Law Record. He made and annotated a code of Colorado laws, which was adopted by the Colorado Bar Associa- tion. When the superior court of the city of Denver was created, Governor Adams, during his first term as chief executive of the state, appointed General Dawson a judge of this court. During the first term of President Cleveland he was appointed surveyor-general for the state of Colorado. As an old Jeffersonian Democrat he took a warm interest in politics, and his party had no friend firmer than he; his influence was cast in its behalf, and its successes were his own. After an honorable and useful career, he passed away in Denver, in 1886, when fifty-seven years of age. His wife and daughters still make Den- ver their home. His older son is deceased, while the daughters are: Anna W., and Elizabeth L., who is the widow of Arthur Green.

Reared in Kentucky until twelve years of age, our subject then accompanied his parents to Colo- rado, where his education was continued in the

years in the mercantile business, after which, in 1887, he entered the medical department of the University of Denver, from which he graduated in 1890. The next year was spent as resident physician in the Union Pacific hospital. In 1891 he opened an office in Ridgway, where he re- mained for eighteen months, and then removed to Rico. His first wife, who was Allie Holbrook, died in 1893, the year of their marriage, and in 1897 he was united with Miss Isabel Church, of Rico. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and, fraternally, belongs to Silver Crescent Lodge No. 40, I. O. O. F., in which he is past grand; Rico Lodge No. 40, A. O. U. W., in which he is past master workman; and the Woodmen of the World, in the local camp of which he is past counsel.

EONARD H. CLARK, M. D., who is en- gaged in the practice of medicine at Mancos, Montezuma County, was born in Orford, Grafton County, N. H., in 1862, a son of D. C. and Sarah (Richardson) Clark, and a grandson of Paul Richardson, a merchant of Hartland, Vt. On the paternal side he descends from John Alden, who came to this country in the "May- flower," and afterward won the hand of the sweet Puritian maiden, Priscilla. D. C. Clark is one of the leading men of Grafton County, where he and his wife still occupy their old homestead. They have three children, Leonard H., Mary A. and George C.

In public schools and Orford Academy our sub- ject acquired a fair education. In 1881 he went to Boston, Mass., where for three years he was employed as clerk in a retail grocery business. Later he was connected with a wholesale grocery house in New York. On account of poor health he was forced to make a change. In 1888 he came to Colorado and secured employment as a grocery clerk in Manitou. In the fall of 1889 he began the study of medicine in the University of Colorado at Boulder. The studies of his sec- ond year he took in the University of Denver. April 7, 1891, he was licensed to practice medi- cine by the state board of medical examiners.

Opening an office at Lawson, Clear Creek County, Dr. Clark remained there until the fall of 1893, when he took the lectures of the last year at the University of Colorado, graduating May 31, 1894, with the degree of M. D. During the winter of the same year he took three post-

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graduate courses, one in surgery under Dr. Park- hill, one in obstetrics under Dr. Taylor, and one in physical diagnosis under H. B. Whitney. In the spring of 1894 he settled in Brighton, Colo., and from there, May 15, 1895, went to Denver as house surgeon at the Arapahoe County hos- pital. In the fall of 1895 he began to practice at Silverton, but in October, 1897, he came to Man- cos on account of desiring a lower altitude. Here he has since carried on professional work. When not actively engaged in attending patients or car- rying on other details of professional work, he studies the latest developments of medical sci- ence, and in this way he keeps abreast with every modern development. By careful study of the most successful remedial agencies, he is well fitted to carrry out, in his own practice, the best thoughts of our greatest physicians. The suc- cess he has already attained speaks well for fu- ture prospects.

In Toltec Lodge No. 73, I. O. O. F., Dr. Clark is noble grand. He is a member of Camp No. 288, Woodmen of the World, and is also connected with the Home Forum. In common with most of the citizens of this locality he owns mining stock. As president of the board of trustees he is actively connected with the work of the Method- ist Episcopal Church South. His marriage, in 1892, united him with Lefa D. Farnham, who was a teacher in the public schools of Idaho Springs. They have one child, Leonard H., Jr.

DWIN L. DAVIS. From the early days of the settlement of Telluride, the life of Mr. Davis has been intimately identified with the history of this mining camp. He has wit- nessed its growth from its start to its present size and importance. The town, with a population of twenty-five hundred, is situated in a small val- ley near the head of the east branch of the San Miguel River. Besides many substantial houses of brick and stone, it has the modern improve- ments, including water works and electric light. It is the supplying and distributing point for a gold and silver area embracing more than two hundred square miles of territory, from which du- ring the past sixteen years more than $15,000,000 in the precious metals have been taken ont.

With the mining and real-estate interests of Telluride, Mr. Davis is connected. Having pros- pected in almost all of the mineral districts of Colorado, he gives his preference to this district, and has the greatest faith in its possibilities, as

judged from its past history. He is a public- spirited citizen and has been connected with almost all of the movements tending to benfit the town. Having spent so many years here, he nat- urally feels for the town an affection which a stranger could not appreciate. Here centers for him all that makes life desirable. Here he has labored energetically and wisely in the past, and here he hopes to spend his future years.

In 1878 Mr. Davis came to San Miguel County before Telluride was known. While engaged in the mercantile business at Rico in 1879 he also became interested in mining and milling at Tel- luride. In 1881 he was one of the active factors in the starting of the town. With his brother, T. A., in 1883, he organized the old San Miguel Valley State Bank, of which his brother was pres- ident. In 1886 the bank of Davis, Matthews & Webbs was started with our subject as president, the bank being located at Rico. Both banks were sold some years later, the Telluride bank about 1889. He also engaged in the mercantile business at Telluride, but now gives his attention princi- pally to mining, and the warehouse transfer and real-estate business. He is a stockholder and di- rector of the First National Bank of this city. In 1892 he platted an addition to the town known as West Telluride, and owned by himself, in partner- ship with T. B. Townsend. He is also one of the owners of the Davis and McCormick block. Through the organization of a number of mining companies and the purchase and sale of several claims, he has kept closely connected with mining interests. In 1894 he was connected with the or- ganization of the Telluride board of trade, of which he was vice-president and a director for some time, and while acting in that capacity they is- sued five thousand copies of a book that set forth the advantages of this locality; in fact, no citizen of Telluride has done more than he to draw peo- ple from other states to San Miguel County, which offers not only mining advantages, but also in its agricultural district, known as the "Shenan- doah of Colorado," offers remarkable opportuni- ties for the horticulturist and farmer.

In West Milton, Miami County, Ohio, Mr. Davis was born in 1843, a son of Henry and Eve Davis, natives of Ohio. His father, who was a physician, practiced for years in West Milton, but in later life was engaged in merchandising in Ko- komo, Ind., and finally came west, visiting Cali- fornia, Utah and Colorado, and spending his last days with his sons in Telluride, where he died at

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eighty years. His wife died in Indiana. They were the parents of four sons, namely: O. M., of Los Angeles; T. A., deceased; E. L. and O. N., of Telluride.

In 1859 our subject came to Colorado and en- gaged in mining and milling at Black Hawk, where he remained until 1861. During the winter of 1861-62 he was employed at milling at the head waters of the Platte River. In company with another man, in 1859, he had built a mill on North Clear Creek, between Black Hawk and the mouth of Chase Gulch; his brother, T. A., also became interested in the enterprise. Going to Chicago in 1860, he purchased a twelve-stamp mill, which he brought to Black Hawk by ox-team over the plains, landing at the mill site July 3, 1860. The mill was erected and put in operation, but ran for a short time only, long enough, however, to involve its owners in a debt of $2,000. Later he mined at Black Hawk for eighteen months. Af- terward he successfully operated the old Freeland mine. Returning to Ohio in the fall of 1862, he engaged in merchandising at Tippecanoe, where he remained for four years. During that time he spent four months in the army, as a member of the one hundred day troops, and a private in in- fantry that was quartered at Arlington, opposite Washington. In 1867 he went to Greenville, Ohio, and purchased a distillery, which he opera -: ted for two years, and in 1869 visited his parents in Kokomo, Ind. Deciding to remain there, he and his father and brother formed a partnership in the dry-goods business, under the name of Davis & Company. From there, in 1878, he came to San Miguel County, Colo. His history has since been inseparably connected with the de- velopment of Telluride. He has been active in political affairs and has been a firm friend of the Republican party. During his residence in Ohio he was made a Mason, but does not keep up his membership in that fraternity. In 1890 he mar- ried Anna Cain, of Kokomo, Ind., by whom he has two sons, Henry E. and Donald.

EORGE RUSH FISHER is one of the snc- cessful and progressive ranchmen and hor- ticulturists of Pueblo County, and may be termed one of the pioneer citizens and representa- tive men of this section. He has made his special field of industry a success, and is highly esteemed and respected by those who know him best. He is engaged in general farming, and its usual con- comitant, stock-raising, on the St. Charles River.

Mr. Fisher was born in Wythe County, Va., January 29, 1839, but when seven years old re- moved with the family to North Carolina, where his father became known as an efficient black- smith. In that state he was reared and educated. At the breaking out of the Civil war he joined the Confederate army as a member of Company A, Twenty-sixth North Carolina Infantry, under Col. Z. B. Vance, and participated in the battle at Newbern, which city was captured by General Burnside. At Gettysburg his regiment, which went into battle with nine hundred and eighty- four men, lost in killed and captured all but sixty- four. He was taken prisoner and confined at Point Lookout, in Maryland, and three months af- terward was taken to Fort Delaware, being released in 1865, just before the surrender of General Lee. He participated in eight battles and skirmishes during his term of service.

At the close of the war Mr. Fisher settled in Smith County, Va., where he made his home until his removal to Kansas in 1869. He followed farming in the latter state until 1873, and then came to Colorado, locating near Rye, on Green- horn Creek, and in 1887 removing to his present ranch of two hundred and twenty acres on the St. Charles River, twelve miles from Pueblo. Here he has large range facilities. He has made all of he improvements upon the place, including resi- dence, barns and fences, and now has one of the finest orchards in the county. He deals in stock and runs a dairy, his butter bringing the highest prices in the market. He is also interested in the Little Maude, a silver and gold mining property near Silverton, in San Juan County. In 1866 our subject married Miss Cynthia Cox, of North Car- olina, and to them were born two sons and three daughters, namely: Frank E., who married Miss Emma Cullings; George W .; Flora A., wife of Harry Short; Effie J. and Bessie M., at home. Mrs. Fisher is a member of the Methodist Church South. Her parents, Samuel and Polly (Long) Cox, were early residents of Ash County, N. C., and spent their last days in that county.

On attaining his majority Mr. Fisher became identified with the Democratic party, but for some years he has affiliated with the Populists. He was the candidate of his party for county com- missioner and was beaten only by a few votes, and at another time was nominated for the legis- lature but refused to accept. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is quite prominent, being held in high regard by all who have the

JOSEPH NEWITT.

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pleasure of his acquaintance. For some time he has served as postmaster of the Fisher postoffice, which is located at his home.

OSEPH NEWITT, clerk of the district court of Chaffee County, and chairman of the Democratic county central committee, was born in Oxford, England, January 30, 1847. His boyhood days were spent in his native shire, and after completing his literary education he studied medicine for some months. However, not de- siring to enter the profession, he turned his atten- tion to other pursuits. When abont twenty-two years of age he went to London and secured em- ployment with a wholesale manufacturing chem- ist. From there, in March, 1875, he crossed the ocean to America.

Coming to Colorado, Mr. Newitt located at what was known then as Chubb's ranch in Chaf- fee County. This place had been settled by his cousin, Robert Bass Newitt (known as Chubbs), about 1864, and became a well-known freighting headquarters, while the owner was a very promi- nent figure in this locality in early days. The name of the station has since been changed to Newitt, in honor of our subject. There, in 1875, he engaged in the mercantile business, and dur- ing the years that followed he made considerable money. At the Trout Creek mining camp in this neighborhood he purchased a number of claims. One of these, the Dolomite mine, he has recently leased and bonded for $50,000.

After having been a partner of his consin for five years, in 1880 Mr. Newitt purchased his in- terest in the ranch, and from that time engaged in cattle ranching and mining until 1892, when he was appointed clerk of the district court and removed to Buena Vista. However, he contin- ued to operate the mine until 1898, when he leased it. At the time of the building of the Mid- land Railroad through Chubb's ranch in 1887, the name was changed to Newitt, and as such it has since been known. The property isvaluable, and forms an important part of the owner's pos- sessions, while the mine, which is situated four- teen miles northeast of Buena Vista, is also prov- ing a profitable investment.

By his marriage in 1873 in London, England, to Miss Annie Lamont, a native of Scotland, Mr. Newitt has three sons and a daughter. The eld- est of the children, Frank, is an assayer, and was connected in that capacity with the cele- brated Johnie mine in Leadville. Annie Sophia

is a graduate of the Loretto Heights convent of Denver. Joseph James is a clerk in the drug store in Buena Vista. Harry is at home.

As a friend of the silver cause and a stanch Democrat, Mr. Newitt has for years been an act- ive factor in local politics. In 1888 and 1889 he served as assessor of Chaffee County. His serv- ice as clerk of the court, which position he has held under Judge Bailey since 1892, has in every respect been satisfactory and reflected great credit upon his energy and ability. Fraternally he is a charter member of Buena Vista Lodge No. 88, K. P., and is past grand of Buena Vista Lodge No. 42, I. O. O. F., and a member of the judi- ciary committee of the grand lodge, I. O. O. F.

S. BALL. The Meeker hotel, of which Mr. Ball is the popular proprietor, is one of the finest establishments of its kind, not only in Rio Blanco County, but in the northwestern part of Colorado. The building was erected by him in 1896 and is a substantial two-story brick structure, containing on the first floor a large ro- tunda, office, baggage room and toilet rooms, also dining room and kitchen; while on the second floor, on each side of a long hall, are the sleep- ing apartments, every one of which is light and sunny, and supplied with hot and cold water. The hotel is one which would do credit to a town much larger than Meeker.

The Ball family was represented among the early settlers of South Carolina. In that state were born the parents of our subject, Dr. Reuben G. and Mahala (Tolland) Ball, the former of whom was in early life a dentist, but afterward a farmer until his death, which occurred in 1887. His wife passed away in 1872. They had only two children, of whom Hugh T. is a dentist in South Carolina. Our subject was born in Lanrens, that state, August 12, 1867, and spent his early life in the same section, receiving common-school advantages. For two years he was employed as clerk in a dry-goods store in that state. In 1890 he came to Colorado and settled at Meeker, where he has since carried on a hotel business, first hav- ing his hotel in two old adobe buildings, but after- ward building the substantial structure . he now owns.

The Woodmen of the World and Valentine Lodge No. 47, I. O. O. F., number Mr. Ball among their members. He is so engrossed in business affairs that he has never taken an active

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part in politics, but is a stanch Democrat in prin- ciple and votes for candidates of that party. In 1894 he married Miss Namie M. Owings, who was born near his old home in South Carolina. They have two children, Wright Owings and Ethel Mahala.

ILLARD N. BURGESS, who came to Colo- rado in the spring of 1880, embarked in the grocery business in January, 1892, at No. 111 North Tejon street, directly across the street from his present location. His removal to his present quarters was with a view to securing additional space, having here two floors, with 25X150 feet in space. There is no finer stock of groceries kept in the city than that which he has in his store, and the energy with which he has conducted his business and the good judg- ment evinced in its management have brought him deserved success.

The Burgess family was represented among the early English settlers of Massachusetts. Pierce Burgess, who was born in Sandwich, Mass., and died there at sixty years of age, had a son, Charles H., a native of the same place and a merchant by occupation. The latter, in 1880, came to Colorado Springs, but after a time re- turned to his native town, and there lives in re- tirement from business cares. In religion he is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Anne S. Nye, who was born in Sand- wich and there died in September, 1897. Her father, Capt. Daniel B. Nye, was a sea captain and descendant of English ancestry. Of the six children born to Charles H. and Anne S. Burgess four are living. The youngest of these, our subject, was born in Sandwich on the last day of the year 1857, and received his education in the local public schools and academy. From an early age he has been familiar with the mer- cantile business, and his present undertaking is along the line of his early training. His object in coming to Colorado was to regain his health, in this health-giving climate, but when that ob- ject was attained, he had become so pleased with the place he determined to remain here perma- nently.

In this city Mr. Burgess married Miss Mary L. Martin, who was born in New York state, but has spent much of her life in this city, the home of her father, F. L. Martin. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Burgess are Louise Martin and Leroy Thornton. In religion the family are iden-

tified with the First Congregational Church, of which Mr. Burgess is a deacon. In the Retail Grocers' Association of Colorado Springs he holds office as treasurer, and is also one of its di- rectors. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce. While his attention is given largely to his business and its management, yet he finds time to take an intelligent interest in public af- fairs and by his progressive and public spirit has assisted in the promotion of important local projects.

RANK J. HOLMES, proprietor of a grocery and provision store at Lamar, Prowers County, was born in Drammen, Norway, December 24, 1859, being a son of Andrew J. and Olivia (Evingson) Holmes. He was reared in his native town, where his father was an archi- tect. At the age of eighteen he graduated from the local high school, and shortly afterward sought a home in America. After a voyage of eight days he landed in New York, and there secured employment in the office of Austin, Baldwin & Co., remaining in that position almost two years. Having studied the English lan- guage in his native land, he found it much less difficult to make his own way in this country than do most foreigners.

Going to Chicago in 1879, Mr. Holmes worked for a short time in that city. Afterward he clerked in a store at Faribault, Minn., where he remained about two years. With the intention of taking up a homestead he went to Ford County, Kan., and entered land, but the task of placing it under cultivation was uncongenial to him, and, deciding that farming was not his forte, he permitted the land to go back to the govern- ment. He then worked as a section laborer at Dodge City, Kan., and after a time was made foreman of a section gang, in which capacity he remained for several years. It was as foreman of section hands that he came to Lamar on the start- ing of this town in 1886, and from that time until 1898 he remained foreman, but has recently turued his attention to business pursuits.

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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 110

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