Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 126

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 126

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NSON RUDD, the oldest living pioneer of Canon City, was born in Erie County, Pa., in 1819, and in boyhood became familiar with farm work, but after going to Columbus, Ohio, he was for three years employed in the newspaper business by his grandfather, Jarvis Pike, a cousin of Capt. Zebulon Pike, for whom Pike's Peak was named. In the winter of 1836- 37 he settled in Pike County, Ill., where he learned the blacksmith's trade. When the Mex- ican war broke out he enlisted and served with the First Illinois Infantry, Second Requisition, remaining in the service until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge at Santa Fe.

Instead of returning to Illinois Mr. Rudd went to California, where he engaged in mining until 1854, and then returned east via Central America and New Orleans, to Pittsfield, Ill. Thence he proceeded to Iowa, and in 1857 became one of the pioneers to Kansas. Taking up land he gave his attention to its improvement and to the trade of a blacksmith, which he followed. In 1860 he came by ox and mule team to Denver, and from there crossed the mountains to the Arkansas Val- ley. He was the commissioner to lay out the county, and was elected the first lieutenant-gov- ernor of the state, but did not serve, owing to the fact that the election was set aside. He was also the first sheriff of the county and served for two terms as commissioner. His connection with the official life of the county has been varied. He has served as provost marshal, oil inspector, post- master and clerk of the People's court. He was one of the locators of the wagon roads to the Wet

Mountain Valley and the river road to the Upper Arkansas region, as well as the road to Currant Creek and South Park. In 1870 he acted as guide to the German colony that settled in Wet Mountain Valley. For several years he was pres- ident of the Canon City Ditch Company. He was the first warden of the penitentiary under state organization and one of the commissioners to locate that institution. Politically he has been a lifelong Republican. In 1855 he married Har- riet Spencer, a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, of Puritan fame. They became the parents of two children, Anson S., of Canon City, and a daughter deceased.

Mr. Rudd has been connected with the history of Canon City from its earliest days. In 1860 he built a log house, which is still standing in his yard, and which was the first house in the place that had a floor. In 1881 it was replaced by his present residence, which is constructed of stone, with walls two and one-half feet thick. Person- ally Mr. Rudd is a very genial man, full of wit and humor, and with ability of a superior order.

B ENJAMIN NEHER owns a farm compris- ing four hundred acres of land, situated one and one-half miles south of Las Animas, Bent County. The advance which has been made by this county during the past few years is due to the efforts of such men as he. The farm- ing population is for the most part composed of men who are strong in character, energetic in dis- position, sensible in judgment and prompt to take advantage of whatever will prove to their benefit. Nor is he an exception to this class. Since set- tling upon his present property in 1894 he has made many improvements and greatly increased the value of the land.

Near Dallas, Tex., Mr. Neher was born Octo- ber 16, 1862, a son of Hiob and Mary F. Neher. He has not made his home with his parents since he was ten years of age, when he was adopted by William Minser, and by him taken to Wyoming. In 1872 they came to Colorado and settled at Fort Lyon, where Mr. Minser was commissary ser- geant. Mr. Neher continued with Mr. Minser until the latter removed from this locality, when he, believing he could attain success here, re- mained behind. His education had been such as the common schools afforded, and, though not broad, was thorough and fitted him for the man- agement of business affairs. At the age of six- teen years he secured employment as a cattle

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herder, and that occupation he followed for twelve years, meantime saving his earnings until he was able to buy land and embark in farming.

At Las Animas, in February, 1891, Mr. Neher married Miss Eva Jones, daughter of J. C. and Elizabeth (Ham) Jones, and two children have blessed their union, James and Charles. After his marriage he engaged in the dray business for six years, and in 1894 bought his present prop- erty, where he carries on stock-raising and gen- eral farm pursuits. From early youth he gave his allegiance to the Democratic party, and dur- ing the campaign of 1896 he became a strong ad- herent of the silver cause. For two terms he served as alderman of Las Animas, and he has also been a member of the county registration board. At one time he was nominated by the People's party for sheriff of Bent County, but was defeated. He is a member of Elder Lodge No. II, I. O. O. F., in which he has filled several chairs.

OHN B. O'NEIL, of La Junta, owns one- half interest in the leading hardware, imple- ment and harness store in Otero County, he and his partner, Charles W. Bomgardner, con- ducting a large trade under the firm title of Bom- gardner & O'Neil. Besides this business he owns other valuable interests, the principal one being the sheep business, he and his brothers owning about four thousand sheep on a ranch of nine hundred acres. In both industries, the hardware business and sheep-raising, he has proved him- self to be a man of ability, perseverance and ex- cellent judgment.

In Oneida County, N.Y., Mr. O'Neil was born February 7, 1849. His father, James, who was a native of Ireland, emigrated to the United States in early manhood and settled in Oneida County, N. Y., where he devoted his remaining years to farm pursuits. He died at the age of about forty years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Katherine Butler, was born in New York City and died in 1892, at sixty-four years of age. In religion she was a faithful member of the Ro- man Catholic Church.

Upon the home farm our subject passed the years of boyhood. When he was seventeen years old he went to Utica, N. Y., and served there an apprenticeship of three years to the tinsmith's trade. Afterward for three years he was em- ployed at Balston Spa, and then embarked in business for himself, opening a hardware and tin-

ware store. Five years later he sold out, and coming west to Denver, Colo., engaged in the hotel business. In 1884 he located on govern- ment land seven miles east of La Junta and formed a partnership with his two brothers, con- tinuing to devote his entire attention to the stock business until 1890, when he purchased an inter- est in his present business.

By his marriage to Miss Tressa Roberts, of La Junta, Mr. O'Neil has three children, Katie, John and Esther. In politics he believes in the principles of the People's party. In 1893, 1894 and 1895 he served as county commissioner, and during the last year was chairman of the board. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. He is a consistent member of the Roman Catholic Church, in which religion he was reared. He is a man of definite aim in life, one who has started in business with the inten- tion of succeeding, and who, by his energy and ability, is abundantly qualified to attain prosper- ity and prominence. Local enterprises receive his support, and as far as possible he personally aids those projects originated for the benefit of his town and county.

AMES G. THOMAS is interested in what- ever tends to promote the moral, intellectual and material welfare of Rye and of Pueblo County. He was born in Warren County, Ky., fourteen miles from Bowling Green, February 12, 1854, and at the age of three was taken by his parents to Shelby County, Mo., where his father died two years later. The mother with her family then returned to Kentucky, but remained there only a year, when they again became residents of Shelby County, Mo., and made their home there for thirteen years. Our subject was educated in the public schools of that county. In 1873, at the age of nineteen years, he came to Colorado and located in Huerfano Canon, where for some time he taught school in the country. In 1877 he took up his residence in Rye, and continued to follow the teacher's profession in this section for several years. He established his present store in March, 1881, in partnership with his brother, J. W., who is also his partner in the ranch and cattle business. Since then he has engaged in merchandising with good success, having a well-stocked store, 40 x 60 feet, besides a warehouse. By fair and honorable dealing he has built up an excellent trade, and has pros- pered in his new home, owning besides his city

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property a valuable farm near Rye. He is quite extensively interested in stock-raising, and in 1898 raised more wheat than anyone in his section.

In 1880 Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with Miss Kate Saylor, daughter of Jacob Saylor, a hotel man of Rye, and to them were born five children, two of whom are living, Ralph and Muriel. As a Democrat, Mr. Thomas takes an active part in local politics, has served as a dele- gate to the conventions of his party, and does all in his power to advance its interests. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South for twenty years. He has worked hard to build up the town of Rye, where he built the hotel and his store, the two largest build- ings in town, as well as the neat residence in which he and his family reside. The old post- office was originally located two and a-quarter miles northwest of the present village. He re- ceived the appointment of postmaster during President Garfield's administration, and held the position eight years. He was again appointed to this office in 1894, during Cleveland's administra- tion, and held the position until 1898. The name of the postoffice was originally Table Mountain, but for brevity's sake it was renamed Rye by Mr. Thomas. He has been a member of the school board, and has been identified with nearly every enterprise for the advancement of his town and county.

AMUEL WHITE HODDING, who is en- gaged in ranching thirteen miles above Saguache, at what was formerly known as Rock Cliff, is a native of England, born in Lon- don, September 23, 1843, a son of William Henry and Susan (Sweet) Hodding. His early educa- tion was acquired in England, but when thirteen years of age he went to sea as an apprentice on the merchant marine. During the thirteen years spent upon the ocean he visited all the ports of India, China and Australia, and for nine years of the time he was an officer of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the largest company of its kind that visited the Orient. For five years he was connected with the station at Bombay.

Coming direct from England to Colorado in 1870, Mr. Hodding was for nine months engaged with a stockman near Pueblo, during which time he became familiar with the customs of the peo-

ple and the details of the stock business. He then decided to start out for himself, and came to the ranch where he is now located, April 28, 1871, taking up one hundred and sixty acres. To this he has since added until he has become the owner of five hundred and twenty acres, mostly pasture and hay land. Buying milch cows, he embarked in the dairy business. He started with Texas cattle, but later disposed of these, and in their place had Jersey cattle. From Saguache Creek he secured running water and good water rights. He became known as the Saguache dairy king. His profits from his dairy were about $250 a month, most of which was paid him by customers in Saguache. In 1897 he exchanged the Jersey stock for the Shorthorn variety, and has since re- tired from dairying. At the time that he settled here there were no white men near him, his only neighbors being the Indians, with whom he traded and was on friendly terms. The winter after he came to this county the wolves were so bad that they would often drive the cattle out of the woods, and in the spring many of the cattle had been so torn in the haunches that they were unfit for the market. He experienced all the hardships of frontier life, its vicissitudes, dangers and privations, but has had the good fortune to see settlements established in this region, towns built up and improvements made. He assisted in the starting of Saguache, and for building one of the first and best houses in the town was pre- sented with a lot here.

Politically a Republican, Mr. Hodding has served as judge of election, and for many years was justice of the peace, also has served as secre- tary of the school board. In religion he is a member of the Church of England. Fraternally he is connected with Olive Branch Lodge No. 32, A. F. & A. M. He has done much to assist in the development of the mining interests of Saguache County, particularly at Biedell, on the Cochetopa, and Sky City in the Big Park. While he had few opportunities for attending school when a boy he nevertheless acquired an excellent classical education, with a fair knowl- edge of Latin and Greek. His time is so en- grossed by his business affairs that he has little opportunity for recreation, and his only relaxa- tion is found in whist, of which he is quite fond. One of his early experiences in Colorado was on a trip to Denver by team to secure winter supplies, when he met Senator Tabor, who was then con- ducting a small store at Granite. At night they

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stayed at the same place, and Tabor bantered him about the English being such fine whist play- ers. Tabor had a barrel of apples (then a great luxury and sold at a very high price), and it was agreed that they should play, the loser to pay for the apples eaten. The result was that Senator Tabor lost about one-third of a barrel of apples.

August 22, 1872, Mr. Hodding married Emily Margaret Walford, of England, where they were married. She died in 1885, and of the five chil- dren born of the union only two are living, Fred- erick, whois engaged in the life insurance busi- ness, and Herbert Gray.

HEODORE F. SCHROEDER, member of the state legislature from Cheyenne and Kit Carson Counties, was born near Dart- mund, in the province of Westphalia, Germany, in 1847. He is a son of Theodore F. and Berna- dine (Schäferhoff) Schroeder, natives of West- phalia, where the former died in 1896, at the age of eighty-six, and the latter in 1892, when eighty years of age. In the family were five sons and one daughter. Of these, Henry was killed at the battle of Sedan, in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870; Joseph died in 1875; Bernard is a miner in Essen, Germany; and William is a carpenter in Westphalia. Bernadine, the only daughter, died in 1871, at twenty years of age.

In the excellent schools of Germany our sub- ject received his education. At the age of sev- enteen he secured employment in an office in his native town, and remained there and in the bur- gomaster's office for several years. In 1868 he crossed the Atlantic, landing in New York City, from which place he went to Savannah and Ma- con, Ga. At Savannah he enlisted as a private in the regular army, and for three years was em- ployed in the commissary and quartermaster's department. At the expiration of his term of service he went to Iowa, where, and in Illinois, he remained until 1875. He then came west to Colorado and for seven years engaged in the dairy business near Denver. Later, securing employ- ment on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, he was ap- pointed stationary engineer at Montero, Chey- enne Wells and Mirage, in which position he re- mained until January, 1892. During the next six years he served as county clerk of Cheyenne County, and also as clerk of the district and county court. While employed as engineer of the city pump of Cheyenne Wells, he was elected to the state legislature in 1898, and is filling that posi-

tion with discretion and tact. He secured the passage of three important bills in the interest of his people: one for the sinking of an artesian well in Cheyenne County; another for a bridge in Kit Carson County, and the other for the mainte- nance of the state farm at Cheyenne Wells.

In 1883 Mr. Schroeder married Miss Mattie Miller, who was born in Iowa and died in Colo- rado, of inflammatory rheumatism, twenty-two months after her marriage. The second marriage of Mr. Schroeder took place in 1887 and united him with Miss Katie Reilley, who was born in Montreal, Canada, and was orphaned at an early age. The three children born of this union are: Ethel Bernardina, Bessie Frances and Theodore Edward. Politically our subject has always affiliated with the Republicans. He is a member of Burlington Lodge No. 77, A. F. & A. M .; P. G. of Ivanhoe Lodge No. 100, I. O. O. F., and P. M. of Hugo Lodge No. 41, A. O. U. W., also P. C. of Sherman Lodge No. 67, K. P., at Cheyenne Wells, in all of which organizations he is highly esteemed for his many admirable qualities and noble character.

AMUEL N. WHEELER. Of success in the professional world, earned by the exercise of sound judgment, energy and ability, an ex- ample is found in the life of Mr. Wheeler, attor- ney-at-law, of Grand Junction. Not alone in his profession, but in public affairs as well, he has wielded a large influence, and has been an im- portant factor in promoting the growth of his town and the welfare of the people. Since he came to this city in 1890 he has built up an important and growing practice and has also wielded considerable influence in the councils of the Democratic party.

The father of our subject, Jackson Wheeler, removed from Virginia to Missouri, where he purchased land and engaged in farming. During the Civil war he served in the Confederate army under the illustrious "Stonewall" Jackson. By his marriage to Jane Triplett, of Virginia, he had eight children, five of whom are now living, all but our subject being in Missouri. The subject of this sketch was born in Clarke County, Va., in 1857, and accompanied his parents to Missouri in 1868. He was educated in common schools, and Warrensburg Normal School, and paid for the ex- pense of his education by teaching. He read law under a well-known attorney at Warrensburg, Mo., and in 1882 was admitted to practice at the

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Missouri bar, after which he took a course of lectures in the University of Virginia. Going to New Orleans in 1884, he taught in a select high school for eighteen months. The practice of his profession he began at Odessa, Mo., in 1886, but in the following year moved to southwestern Kansas and thence in 1890 came to Grand Junc- tion. Here he was associated in practice with Judge W. S. Sullivan until 1895, since which time he has been alone. A close student of his profession, he has become thoroughly acquainted with the laws of the state, as well as the general laws of the nation and those of other states. Aside from his practice, to which his attention is largely given, he also has real-estate interests in Grand Junction and owns several fruit ranches near Fruita, Mesa County. At this writing he acts as attorney for the Colorado State Bank and the Colorado Midland Railroad at this point.

The political views of Mr. Wheeler bring him into close contact with the leaders of the Demo- cratic party in this locality. For two years he served as city attorney. In the fall of 1898 he was a candidate for the nomination for district judge, in his judicial district, but for personal reasons withdrew from the race before the con- vening of the judicial convention. The best in- terests of the community receive his support, and he aids in worthy public enterprises. In Mesa Lodge No. 58, I. O. O. F., he has filled all of the chairs. His marriage, which took place in 1888, united him with Miss Frances Hereford, of Mis- souri. Their children are Rowena, Samuel N. Jr., and Virginia.

OUIS N. MC LANE. Any history of the eastern part of Colorado would not be com- plete without a sketch of this early pioneer. For a number of years Louis N. McLane was the man most prominently identified with that sec- tion of the state tributary to the Kansas branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. Coming to the state a young man when the railroad was build- ing, he at once grasped the opportunities pre- sented and became a leader in all that went to make up the business and social life of that sec- tion. When the railroad company decided to collect thousands of buffalo heads to be used for advertising purposes, Mr. McLane was asked to undertake the task of securing them, and during that period his hunting parties ranged the entire eastern portion of what is now Colorado, follow- ing the meanderings of the great herd. Follow-

ing this period in the history of that section came the era of cattle-growing, and the herds of Mr. Mc Lane were among the first to cover the old ranges of the buffalo. It was not many years before he was reckoned among the "cattle kings" of the west, and while his energies were almost entirely absorbed by his cattle interests and the home ranch on Goose Creek, just over the Colo- rado line, in western Kansas, his connection with the railroad company continued for years after; the heads of the road having so long relied on his judgment and assistance in the conduct of the line at that division, they insisted upon him retaining a nominal position with the company.

When the rush of settlers spread over the plains of eastern Colorado, Mr. McLane laid out the town site of Cheyenne Wells and gave atten- tion to its upbuilding. It was largely through his efforts that Cheyenne County was formed by the state legislature out of the old counties of Bent and Elbert, and he accepted the appointment as a commissioner of the new county in order to see it properly organized, holding the position as long as he considered he could in justice to himself and family remain a resident of Cheyenne Wells. It was through the influence of Mr. McLane that in the town of Cheyenne Wells was made a division point on the Kansas Pacific, and in order to se- cure the removal of the headquarters from Wal- lace it was made necessary for the town company of which he was president to erect and operate a railroad hotel for an eating station. This was done, and the house is still operated under Mr. McLane's management, although his home is in Denver.

The part that Mr. McLane enacted in the pur- suit of the Ute Indians, who, in 1878, murdered his brother, Joseph, is written in the greater his- tory of the state of Colorado. It is only necessary in this connection to say that the Utes hold in the greatest of respect the man who of all the many they had made the object of their treachery gave them the hardest fight they ever experienced and whose unrelenting pursuit, more than any other one thing, made reservation Indians of the tribe that was the bitterest foe of the white settlers of Colorado.

Mr. McLane, in addition to his cattle and other interests in the eastern part of the state, has been a steady patron of the mining fields of the moun- tain section. His prospectors were among the first to enter Aspen, and but for the accidental death of his mining associate, many of the great

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mines of that section would have been owned by him. The killing of this man left the records of his locations in such a shape that Mr. McLane lost heavily in properties that made some of the wealthiest citizens of the state, and only interests in Mollie Gibson and Lone Pine were left as the reward of his foresight in appraising the impor- tance of the mineral deposits in that section. He was also a pioneer in the development of Creede camp, in which he is largely interested at the present time.

UDOLPHUS M. TAYLOR, the owner of a ranch of two hundred acres near Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., in 1846, a son of Albert and Harriet Taylor. He was educated in Mexico Academy and Meade's Commercial College at Oswego, N. Y. Much of his youth was spent in Oswego County, where, at the age of sixteen years, he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-fourth New York Cavalry, assigned to the Ninth Army Corps, under Generals Meade and Sheridan. With his regiment he went to the front and took part in the various engagements of the army of the Potomac, including the battles of the Wilder- ness and Petersburg. From the ranks he was promoted to be first sergeant, and as such was mustered out at the close of the war. During his term of service he was neither wounded nor cap- tured. His colonel, William Roulison, was taken prisoner and confined in Libby prison. While there he organized the escaping party and was shot in endeavoring to make his escape.

On his return to New York our subject re- sumed his studies, which had been interrupted by the war. After three years of study, in 1868, he engaged in the mercantile business in Oswego, N. Y., where he remained until 1873, and then sold out his interest in the business. For two years he engaged in freighting on the Erie Canal from Oswego to New York City, but was obliged to sell out on account of poor health. Going to Maryland he spent a year on the eastern shore. In 1876 he went back to Oswego County, where he remained until his father's death, in 1880, meantime superintending the homestead.

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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 126

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