Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 116

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 116

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In the public schools and academy of Freedom the subject of this sketch acquired his education. In the spring of 1857 he left home and went to Illinois, where he bought a farm in Stark County. In the spring of 1859, with a team of oxen, he left Illinois and proceeded west to St. Joe, Mo., where he sold the team and remained for a year. He then engaged to drive an ox-team to Denver

and walked the entire distance across the plains, by the side of his team, from Atchison to Denver. Wearied by the hard trip, he reached Denver on the 20th of August. From there he drove the team to Central City, the objective point. From that place he went back to Denver, where he met a brother and began contracting with him for a partner, their special business being to furnish logs for a sawmill. In the fall of 1863 he went to Colorado City. Soon afterward, upon the organi- zation of the town company, he became one of the founders of the city. The year 1864 was spent almost entirely in fighting the Indians; he was a member of an independent company that was fur- nished arms by the government, and with his com- pany he engaged in active service on the frontier, participating in many thrilling incidents during the border warfare. While in Colorado City he embarked in the cattle business, which he con- ducted, upon a constantly increasing scale. In 1868 he acquired sawmill interests which he re- tained for five years, until the year of his removal to Park County. In 1875 he was elected county commissioner of this county, and filled the posi- tion for three years, discharging its duties effi- ciently.

August 15, 1875, Mr. Spinney married Miss Mary A. Rose, a native of Fremont County, Il1. Four children were born of their union, of whom all but one are living. Anson B. R. was educated in the Colorado Springs high school and is study- ing law. Jean V. is attending Colorado College at Colorado Springs; while Fayette A. has ac- quired his education in the high school of that city and is preparing himself for the occupation of an electrician.

OSE M. JARAMILLO has spent his entire life in Conejos County and is now engaged in farming and stock-raising near the village of Conejos. A son of J. F. Jaramillo, still a resi- dent of this county, he was born here in 1867 and received his education in local schools and in Las Vegas College in New Mexico. Upon reaching his majority he began to farm independently. In March, 1898, he bought two hundred acres where he now lives, and on this place he has since en- gaged in general farm and stock pursuits.

Politically Mr. Jaramillo votes the Republican ticket. He was for five years deputy assessor of the county, which position he filled satisfactorily. Since 1896 he has served as judge of elections. Among his own people especially he has been a

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leader and a man of prominence, and he is regarded by them as a young man of energy, who will undoubtedly succeed in his work as a ranchman.

The marriage of Mr. Jaramillo took place in 1887, his wife being Miss Darita Jaramillo, by whom he has two children, Natibidad and Juan F.

EVERLEY TUCKER, M. D., of Colorado Springs, attending physician to St. Francis Hospital, member of the board of health since its organization, and surgeon to the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf Railroad, was born in Richmond, Va., May 27, 1867, and descends from patriotic pioneers of America. His paternal an- cestors removed from England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and from there his great-great-grand- father, St. George Tucker, a jurist, went to Bermuda. The great-grandfather, St. George, Jr., was born at Port Royal, Bermuda, and in 1772 was graduated from William and Mary College. Four years later he participated in an expedition that resulted in the capture of a fort in Bermuda. During the Revolutionary war he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and at Yorktown he was wounded so seriously that he was rendered permanently lame. He married Mrs. Frances Bland Randolph, mother of John Randolph, a member of the Virginia general court and later a professor in William and Mary Col- lege. He was a member of the committee ap- pointed to revise and digest laws of Virginia; served as a delegate to the convention at Annap- olis, Md .; held office as judge of the court of appeals from 1803 to 1811, and as judge of the United States district court from 1813 to 1827. In addition to his work as jurist he gave consid- erable attention to literature and was himself an author of ability. He prepared a valuable work bearing upon the subject: "How far the com- mon law of England is common law in the United States;" also a dissertation on slavery, with a proposal for its gradual abolition in Virginia; a letter on alien and sedition laws (1799) and a commentary on Blackstone (1803). For a con- siderable period he was also a professor of law in the University of Virginia. His death occurred in Edgewood, that state, in 1827.

Judge Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, son of St. George Tucker, LL. D., was born in Mattoax, Va., in 1784, and was a graduate of William and Mary College. From 1815 to 1830 he was a judge of circuit court, and from 1834 until his death,

August 26, 1851, held a position as professor of law with his alma mater. A man of broad mind and wide information, he was the author of a number of works that were valuable additions to law, political and general literature. In 1846 he issued the " Principles of Pleading;" later pub- lished other works, including a historical novel, forecasting the Civil war, published in 1830. The latter was reprinted in 1861 as a key to the disunion conspiracy.

The father of the subject of this article was B. St. George Tucker, M. D., a son of Judge N. B. Tucker. He was born at Williamsburg, Va. After graduating from William and Mary College he began the study of medicine in the University of Virginia, and later was graduated from the medical department of the University of the City of New York. He was appointed assistant sur- geon in the Confederate army and placed in charge of the hospital at Lynchburg, Va. No- vember 4, 1864, he was promoted to be a surgeon in the army, to rank from the 24th of September as such, and he continued to serve until the close of the war. In the battle of Seven Pines he was shot through the leg, but with that exception had no serious experiences. After the close of the war he practiced medicine in Richmond for three years, and afterward made his home in Marshall, Saline County, Mo., until 1880, when he came to Colorado Springs. In this city he continued to reside until his death, March 30, 1894. Fra- ternally he was a Mason of the Royal Arch de- gree.

The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Eliza Christine Mercer and was born in Williamsburg, Va., where her parents, John Cyrus and Mary (Waller) Mercer, were well-known res- idents. The Mercer family was founded in Amer- ica by Hugh Mercer, who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, about 1720. He received his education in the University of Aberdeen and became a phy- sician, serving as assistant surgeon in the army of Prince Charles Edward, the " Pretender," in 1745. The failure of the rebellion obliged him to seek refuge in another country, and in 1747 he emigrated to America, settling in Virginia. In 1755 he took part in Braddock's campaign against the French and Indians at Fort Duquesne, and on the 9th of July was wounded at the battle of Monongahela. Becoming lost from his comrades he wandered alone through the wilderness to Fort Cumberland, one hundred miles distant. For his courage upon this expedition he was

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given a medal by the corporation of Philadelphia. In 1758 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and accompanied General Forbes to Fort Du- quesne, where he was commander of the post for some time. Later he engaged in practice as a physician at Fredericksburg, Va. In 1775 he was engaged in drilling the minutemen of Vir- ginia and was commissioned colonel of a regi- ment authorized by the Virginia convention (the Third Virginia) February 13, 1776. Through the influence of Washington he was chosen by congress brigadier-general, with the command of the flying camp organized in the spring of 1776. He commanded the attack at Trenton, where he rendered valiant service. Afterward he led the night march upon Princeton. When he saw that his men were beginning to waver before the enemy he made a last desperate effort to rally them, and as he rushed to the front was felled to the ground by a blow from the butt end of a mus- ket. In spite of the fact that British soldiers surrounded him on every hand, he arose and de- fended himself heroically with his sword, refus- ing to give up to the redcoats. He was repeat- edly bayoneted and finally left for dead upon the field. After the battle was ended he was taken to a house near by, where he died nine days later, January 12, 1777. His remains were followed to the grave in Philadelphia by about thirty thou- sand people. In November, 1840, a monument was erected to his memory in the Laurel Hill cemetery. Provision was made by congress for the education of his youngest son.

October 1, 1897, at the battlefield, Stony Brook, a tablet was unveiled that had been erected by Mercer Engine Company No. 3, to the memory of General Mercer. On the preceding evening, in Princeton, N. J., a large audience listened to an address by Judge Beverley R. Wellford, class of 1847, Princeton University. His address was a glowing tribute to the character and patriotism of General Mercer. Among other things he spoke as follows: " Hugh Mercer was a native of Scot- land. He was probably born in 1725, as the rec- ord gives January, 1726, as the date of his bap- tism. Upon the paternal side he was descended from a race of Presbyterian preachers and elders, and upon the maternal side from a long line of distinguished soldiers. His father was Rev. Will- iam Mercer, minister of the Church of Scotland at Pelsbego, Aberdeenshire, from 1720 to 1748. His mother was Anna Munso, daughter of Sir Robert Munso, the twenty-seventh baron and

sixth baronet of Foulis, who served with distinc- tion in the royal army on the continent at Fon- tenay and elsewhere, and in the battle of Falkirk was slain while in command of General Ponson- by's regiment.

"An English traveler in 1784 published in Lon- don an account of his visit to the colonies just prior to the Revolution, and thus writes: 'I ar- rived in Fredericksburg and put up at an inn kept by one Weedon, who is now a general offi- cer in the American army and was then very active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedi- tion. In Fredericksburg I called upon a very intimate friend, Dr. Hugh Mercer, a physician of great merit and eminence and as a man possessed of almost every virtue and accomplishment.'

" Dr. Mercer was afterward a brigadier-general in the American army, to accept which appoint- ment I have reason to believe he was greatly in- fluenced by General Washington, with whom he had long been in intimacy and bonds of friend- ship. For Dr. Mercer was generally of a just and moderate way of thinking and possessed of principle, being uncommon among those with whom he embarked.

"This General Weedon was a brother-in-law of General Mercer and after his death the 'second father' of his orphan son, as the latter styled him. He was elected lieutenant-colonel when Mercer was made colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment, was subsequently commissioned a brigadier-gen- eral in the continental army and commanded the American forces on the Gloucester side of the York when Cornwallis was forced to surrender on the south side."

Col. Hugh Mercer, son of General Mercer, was born in Fredericksburg and spent his entire life there, living in the old home where his father had resided. His son, John Cyrus Mercer, M. D., a graduated physician, practiced medicine in Will- iamsburg, Va. During the war he was on board the old frigate "Constellation," U. S. N., and for a time he also had charge of a hospital in Vir- ginia. He died in Williamsburg in 1884, at seventy-three years of age. His wife was a daughter of Dr. Waller, and her mother, Louisa, was a daughter of John Cyrus and Eliza Chris- tine (Stuart) Griffin, the latter being in turn a daughter of Sir James, Earl of Traquair, of Scot- land. Mrs. Tucker is now living in Colorado Springs. She has six children, named as follows: John Speed, of Tucker, Ballard & Co .; Beverley; Hugh Mercer, who graduated from the Massa-

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chusetts Institute of Technology and is now a corporal with the Second Regiment, U. S. V., in Honolulu; Mrs. Lilie Wandell, St. George and Henrietta, all of this city.

In 1880 the subject of this review came with his parents to Colorado Springs. He graduated from the high school here in 1884. Afterward he took an academic course in the University of Virginia, and then took the medical course in the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1889. In the fall of the same year he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, where he remained until the next year. By competi- tive examinations he received appointment as resident physician to Randall's Island Hospital, where he remained for eighteen months. He then took a special course in the New York Poly- clinic. On his return to Colorado Springs, in January, 1892, he began to practice his profession in this city, where he has since resided. He is a member of the Colorado State Medical Associa- tion and has been vice-president of the El Paso County Medical Society. Fraternally he is a charter member of the Colorado Springs Lodge, B. P. O. E .; is identified with El Paso Lodge No. 13, A. F. & A. M., a member of the Vir- ginia Chapter of the Sons of the Revolution and the Colorado Chapter of the Society of Colonial Wars. In Oskaloosa, Iowa, June 24, 1896, he married Miss Martha Wright, who was born in Ohio and removed to Iowa with her parents. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, while Dr. Tucker is an Episcopalian. They are the parents of one child, Martha Christine.

EWIS M. ARMSTRONG. The business interests of Mancos had an able representa- tive in Mr. Armstrong, who was the propri- etor of a meat and produce market in this impor- tant town of Montezuma County. Identified with this section of the state for some years, it was in 1887 that he left Del Norte and came to the Montezuma Valley, and in 1888 settled on a ranch, "Cedar Home," ten miles south of the present village of Mancos. During the five years that he remained there he engaged in stock-rais- ing and general farm pursuits. In 1895 he came to Mancos proper, built a store and opened a market that he conducted up to the time of his death, which occurred March 23, 1899. He took an active part in the organization of the town of Mancos, and served as a member of the first

board of trustees, also as president of the school board for one term, and maintained a warm in- terest in all matters for the benefit of the town and county.

A son of James and Frances (McCullom) Arm- strong, both of southern birth, the subject of this sketch was born in Clinton County, Ky., in 1836. In 1847 he was taken by his parents to Texas, but afterward returned to Kentucky, where he was educated in private schools. He continued to farm in that state until the outbreak of the Civil war. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the Con- federate army under Colonel Hamilton, and served until 1863. He crossed the Ohio with General Morgan and entered Indiana, where he was cut off from his command, and unable to re- turn. He drifted west to Colorado and located in the mining camp of Central City, where he clerked in a grocery and meat market for one year, and afterward conducted a grocery and meat market of his own for five years. In 1871 he went to Denver, where he carried on a hotel known as the Mansion house, and afterwards he was proprie- tor of the Broadwell house, corner of Sixteenth and Larimer streets.

Settling in the then new town of Del Norte in the fall of 1873, Mr. Armstrong opened a meat market and general store, which he carried on for three years. In 1879 he was elected sheriff of Rio Grande County and his work in that capacity proved so satisfactory that he was re-elected in 1882. During the latter year he captured two no- torious characters, one of whom he disabled in the effort to capture him. On arriving in Del Norte with his two prisoners, the citizens of the town and surrounding country took the men from him and hung them on a cottonwood tree near the depot. They were noted desperadoes and had recently shot the chief engineer of the Rio Grande Railroad.

While serving as sheriff Mr. Armstrong was for six years town marshal of Del Norte and dep- uty United States marshal, holding the three po- sitions at the same time. November 16, 1879, the citizens of Del Norte presented him with a handsome gold-headed cane, as a token of the es- teem in which he was held. In 1887 he removed from that place to Montezuma County, where he afterward made his home. He was the owner of real estate in the town. He was active in the Democratic party here, and also active in Toltec Lodge No. 73, I. O. O. F., of which he was a charter member and past noble grand. In 1866

HENRY B. SAGER.

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he married Mary Keating, of Central City. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong had no children of their own, but while in Del Norte adopted a child, Fred Kossman, who in 1876, the time of his adoption, was two years of age; he now manages the ranch for his foster mother, Mrs. Armstrong.

ENRY B. SAGER, of La Veta, is the owner of the only herd of registered Herefords in Huerfano County and was the first to intro- duce this breed of stock here. He was born in Benton County, Ark., May 19, 1851, a son of Christian C. and Winnie ( Matney) Sager. His father, a native of Germany, emigrated to Amer- ica in 1828, in company with his brother Henry, and was for a time in the employ of the Ameri- can Fur Company, engaged in hunting, trapping and Indian trading on the frontier. Afterward settling in Kansas City, when that now populous place was a mere hamlet, he and his brother built the first houses in the town. As the vil- lage began to grow, he secured employment as a carpenter and cabinet-maker, and had a large shop there. Removing to Arkansas he engaged in farming and stock-raising, as well as cabinet- making, and, through energy and business judg- ment, became the owner of eight hundred acres. Prominent in local affairs, he served as justice of the peace and in other positions. He was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and one of its principal contributors. His death occurred on his Arkansas farm in 1870, when he was about fifty-two years of age. His wife had died shortly after the family removed to Benton County, and when our subject was only one year old. The latter was the youngest of three sons, his brothers being Frederick W., a farmer and carpenter now living in the Indian Territory; and Albert M., whose sketch is pre- sented in this work.

When eighteen years of age our subject left his home in Arkansas and went to Kansas City, where he took charge of a farm owned by his uncle, Henry Sager, near the town. In March, 1871, he decided to come to Colorado. He met W. B. Hamilton, an entire stranger to him, and the owner of stock in Colorado, and, after an in- vestigation, agreed to buy the stock. He came to Huerfano County, and after a time settled on the ranch he now owns. At first he was em- ployed on a ranch, receiving $1 every day of the year, and continued in the same position for six years. Afterward he and his brother, Albert M.

(who had come to Colorado one year after his ar- rival), entered into partnership and began in the stock business.

The brothers bought an outfit of two wagons and teams at Pueblo and, with ample provisions, started for the San Juan country. It was their intention to sell the provisions on reaching their destination, but when within fifty miles of the journey's end they had the misfortune to lose all of the groceries and wagons in crossing a rapid stream. One of the men who accompanied them was also carried away in a wagon and drowned. Buying a wagon they proceeded to the present site of Durango, where they remained for a few days. They then followed the trail to the present site of Silverton. This was in the spring of 1875, and during the summer they engaged in the saw- mill business, finding plenty of work, but poor pay. In the fall they went south through New Mexico and Arizona, and there took a large con- tract for an irrigation canal from the Gila River, in Yavapai County, for a distance of seven miles. After completing the contract, settlers coming in, they sold the water rights the first year and the following year the brothers sold their rights to their partners and returned to Huerfano County, making the trip with a buggy and a pair of mules.

Shortly after his return our subject rented a large ranch on the Denver & Rio Grande tract. September 15, 1877, he married Myra Ownbey, daughter of Mrs. Harriet Ownbey; she was born in the east, but was reared in the city of Denver. They are the parents of four children: Fred- erick C., who is a student in Colorado College at Colorado Springs and expects to complete the regular course in that institution; Albert E., who received a common-school education and has since assisted his father in the stock business; Amy and Winnifred.

After two years upon the railroad tract, Mr. Sager bought a squatter's claim of one quarter- section where he now lives. He made his start in the stock business by trading a load of hay for a yearling heifer. Gradually he became the pos- sessor of a large number and these he graded. After two years he went to Kansas, where he bought a yearling heifer and bull, each of which cost $625. From these he raised his herd of Herefords, now consisting of three hundred head and valued at $30,000. In making a specialty of high-grade animals, which he sells to breeders, he has been remarkably successful, achieving not

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only prosperity, but also considerable prominence as a stock-dealer. In addition to his home ranch he owns four hundred and forty acres one and a- half miles east of LaVeta, and has all of his prop- erty irrigated, fenced and improved.

Politically Mr. Sager is a Democrat, but has never been a politician in the ordinary usage of that word. In religious matters he is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church South, which he assisted in organizing, and in which he has served as a trustee. Through all the cares of his business life he has found time to devote to church work, and has been liberal in his contri- butions toward its maintenance. In fraternal re- lations he is a member of the Woodmen of the World. Educational work has received a share of his time and thought, and he has rendered able service as president of the local school board.

M ICHAEL C. MC NICHOLS, a resident of Aspen since 1888, has been engaged in mining in this vicinity and Gunnison Coun- ty, and has acquired some interests that are quite valuable. In the fall of 1893 he was elected treas- urer of Pitkin County, which position he has since filled, being now in his third term in the office. His judgment in matters pertaining to finances is considered excellent. As a county official he has watched with fidelity the interests of the tax-pay- ers and has been just and fair with all. He is popular among the people and respected for his known integrity and upright life.

The McNichols family came to this country from Ireland and were among the early settlers of New York state. John J. McNichols, father of our subject, was born in New York and moved from there to Wisconsin, where he engaged in farm pursuits. He was a stanch Democrat and took an interest in public affairs, but had no de- sire to occupy public positions. His wife, Mary, was a daughter of M. R. Lucid, a farmer of New York, where she was born. Since the death of her husband she has made her home in Nebraska. In her family there are nine sons and three daughters. Of these William H. is deputy coun- ty treasurer of Pitkin County; James is engaged in mining in Oregon; Thomas resides in Caribou, Colo .; and the other brothers live in Nebraska, engaged at different pursuits; two sisters live in Nebraska, and the third is the wife of J. C. Hayes, who owns mining interests in Leadville.

From Wisconsin, where he was born in 1862, our subject was taken by his parents to Iowa,

where he was reared on a farm. He attended country schools and the Des Moines high school, receiving a fair education. In 1880 he came to Colorado and settled in Leadville. For three years he mined in what is known as the Ten Mile mining district. His days were busily employed in mining, but in the evening, when work was over, he turned his attention to study and at- tended a private school. From 1883 to 1888 he was actively interested in mining at Leadville, but since coming to Aspen his interests have been mainly in Pitkin and Gunnison Counties. He is a member of the People's party but has never displayed any partisanship in his preferences, being liberal in his views. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

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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 116

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