Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 127

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 127

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In 1881 Mr. Taylor came to Pagosa Springs (then Fort Lewis) Colo., and here engaged in government contracting, furnishing fuel for the barracks at the fort. In 1882 he went to Big Rapids, Mich., and for one year was employed as bookkeeper and paymaster by the Muskegon

Booming Company. Returning to Pagosa Springs in 1883, accompanied by his family, he turned his attention to the sheep business, owning a ranch of two hundred acres near town, and here he now raises cattle. When Archuleta was cut off from Conejos County, in 1884, Governor Eaton ap- pointed him the first county clerk of the new county, and in 1885 he was unanimously elected to this office. By subsequent re-election he con- tinued in the same office until 1896, making a period of twelve years of service. From 1884 to 1894 he served as clerk of the district court, for several years was town clerk, and also held the office of clerk of the county court. On every ticket where his name has been placed he has been successful, a fact which shows his popular- ity. In all questions affecting the public welfare he takes a leading part and has firm convictions, his political views being in accord with the Re- publican party. He strongly advocated the in- corporation of the town of Pagosa and was influ- ential in this work. Possessing resolution and pur- pose of will he is not easily swerved from his opin- ions when once they are formed; hence, when once convinced of the justice of a cause he is seldom seen to change to the opposite view. While in Oswego he identified himself with the Masonic fraternity. He is grand marshal of the Grand Army post recently organized at Pagosa Springs. In 1871 he married Myra Sabin, of Oswego, N.Y., only daughter of Vincent Sabin. They have one child, Hattie M., wife of V. C. McGirr, an attor- ney-at-law at Pagosa Springs.

LIVER W. SPICER, M. D., county phy- sician of El Paso County and local surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail- road at Colorado Springs, came to Colorado in 1881, settling in Evans on the 1st of September and practicing in Loveland for four years. Since December 1, 1886, he has been engaged in the general practice of medicine in Colorado Springs. He was born near New Concord, Muskingum County, Ohio, October 26, 1848, a son of Thomas and Rebecca Devore (Wilson) Spicer, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania respectively. His grand- father, Thomas Spicer, Sr., was a son of a Revolu- tionary soldier.

The youngest of three children, Thomas Spicer, Jr., was reared in Muskingum County from boy- hood, and cleared two farms there while he was still a young man. In 1856 he removed to Mon- mouth, Ill., and after three years went to Mercer

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County, the same state, where he improved a farm. After some time, however, he returned to Monmouth and settled on a farm near that city. From youth he has been identified with the United Presbyterian Church, in which he has served as a ruling elder for thirty-five years. Since 1889 he has made his home in Colorado Springs. His wife was a daughter of Hugh Wil- son, a native of Pennsylvania and an early set- tler of Muskingum County, Ohio. They became the parents of four children, of whom Mrs. Mary C. Atchison lives in Victor, Colo .; J. Calvin is in Colorado Springs; and Thomas H. resides in Monmouth, Ill.

When the family removed to Illinois our sub- ject was eight years of age. He was educated in the public schools of Mercer County and in Mon- mouth College, which he attended for two years. To assist in defraying his college expenses, he taught school for two terms. Under Dr. J. P. McClanahan, of Norwood, Ill., he began the study of medicine, after which he entered the Chicago Medical ( now the Northwestern University Med- ical) College, and continued his studies there until he graduated, March 13, 1873, with the degree of M. D. Meantime he had gained considerable experience through hospital work. His first of- fice was in College Springs, Page County, Iowa, where he remained until 1881. His first location in Colorado was at Evans, but after eighteen months he removed to Loveland, and from there in 1886 came to Colorado Springs, where he has since carried on a general practice, with office in the Degraff building, and residence at No. 423 North Weber street. Since January, 1890, he has acted as surgeon for the Santa Fe road, and is a member of the Santa Fe Association of Rail- way Surgeons. At one time he was president o the El Paso County Medical Society, of which he is still a member, as he is also of the State Medi- cal Association. Politically he favors Repub- lican principles. He is a man of temperate habits and a warm advocate of those enterprises calcu- lated to advance temperance principles among the people. All worthy objects receive his sympathy and, as far as possible, his assistance. Especially has he been interested in the Y. M. C. A., iu which he is a director. He was one of the prime factors in the organization of the United Presby- terian Church here and has since served the con- gregation as a ruling elder, besides which he has for years served as chorister and as tenor singer in the choir.

In Biggsville, Il1., Dr. Spicer married Miss Harriet E. McQuown, daughter of Isaac Mc- Quown, who has been a farmer there for years. They are the parents of four children: Mabel A., Charles Clyde, Carroll A. and Wilma Olive. The older daughter has been a student of Vassar College, graduating in June, 1899. The older son, who is a graduate of the high school of Colo- rado Springs and a member of the class of 1901, in Colorado College, served as a lieutenant in the Leadville war, and at the opening of the Spanish- American war was commissioned captain of Com- pany M, First Colorado Volunteer Infantry, with which he is now serving in the Philippines. He is a young man of ability and a very popular officer among the men of his command.

ENRY R. THOMPSON, who has built up an important practice as a veterinary sur- geon and dentist, has for some years made his home and business headquarters in Pueblo, and is well known here, especially among owners of and dealers in horses and other domestic ani- mals. Having made a careful study of diseases which are found among horses, and having given thoughtful attention to remedial agencies to be employed, he has met with success in the cases which have been brought to him, and has often been able to help where others have failed.

A son of F. A. and Mary (Thomas) Thomp- son, the former of whom has been a farmer in Kansas for years and also held prominent local offices, the subject of this sketch was born in Concordia, that state, in 1871. He was one of six sons, of whom all but himself remain with their parents; he also has one sister, now mar- ried. His early education was obtained in the ilocal public schools. From an early age he was fond of horses. Those owned by his father were his special pets, and he not only enjoyed a ride upon a good horse, but, as years passed by, he began to study their diseases and the best way of remedying them. Finally, wishing to become skilled in this work, he entered the Kansas City Veterinary College, which not only embodies the horse, but all other domestic animals in its various studies. From this institution he graduated, and he also graduated from the School of Pharmacy in Kansas City. Soon afterward he located in Olathe, Kan , and practiced in that town and throughout Johnson County.

Coming to Colorado in 1895 Mr. Thompson spent one year in Leadville and then came to

MAURICE E. MORROW.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Pueblo, where he has since built up a good prac- tice. In 1897 he married Miss Edna Fitzsim- mons, a native of Kansas. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and in politics he is a pronounced friend of the Republican party. He is a member of the United States Veterinary Medical Association, also the Missouri Valley and Colorado Veterinary Associations.

AURICE E. MORROW, county commis- sioner of Garfield County and the owner of a ranch situated near Glenwood Springs, was born in Hamilton County, Ind., July 14, 1850, a son of James and Rebecca (Jessup) Mor- row, natives respectively of Kentucky and North Carolina. The family of which he is a member was founded in America in an early day by four brothers, who emigrated from Ireland to Virginia and all of whom afterward bore an honorable part in the Revolutionary war. His maternal ancestors were quakers and settled in North Caro- lina during colonial days. When a boy James Morrow moved to Indiana and afterward con- tinued to reside upon a farm in that state. He was identified with the Republican party after its organization. In his family there were four sons and three daughters. Ebenezer entered the Union army at fourteen years of age, joining the Fifth Indiana Cavalry, in which he served until the close of the war; he died some years after the war. William is a farmer in Kansas, and Albert is engaged in railroading. Elizabeth, the wife of William Combs, lives in Kansas; Lillie died in 1882, and May died when young.

At ten years of age our subject accompanied his parents to Illinois, and three years later he started out to make his own way in the world. During the summer months he worked on a farm, while in the winter he worked nights and mornings to pay for his board, and during the day he attended school. Fond of music, he made a specialty of this study from childhood, and afterward en- gaged in teaching it, as well as teaching school. In 1884 he came to Colorado and located prop- erty near Glenwood Springs. From this land he has improved a ranch, with a large herd of stock and a fine dairy. He has seen the remarkable development of the country. When he came here everything was new. No railroads had been built through the county, no buildings had been erected, and almost the only indication of human. life was the presence of Indians near by. Glen-

wood Springs itself contained nothing but a few tents and four dilapidated wooden buildings, and it would have required a shrewd observer to pre- dict for it a successful and prosperous future, such as it has since enjoyed. However, he had confidence in the country, and the passing years have proved that his confidence was not mis- placed. He has taken a warm interest in public affairs and as county commissioner, to which of- fice he was elected in 1897, he has rendered much helpful service to the people. In politics he votes the Republican ticket. He was married July 2, 1882, to Cora M. Guyer, a native of York state. They have five children: Ethel, Helen, Charles, Mabel and Clyde.

ONRAD SCHAFER was for years one of the most prominent ranchmen of Lincoln Coun- ty. At the age of twenty-five years he set- tled on a ranch near Aroya, on the Kansas Pa- cific Railroad, twenty-two miles southeast of Hugo, and there the balance of his life was busily passed in work such as occupies the attention of every enterprising ranchman. At the time of settling there the property was destitute of improvements and bore an aspect that was very uninviting and unattractive. However, through his energy and constant labor, many improvements were made and a substantial ranch house was erected. His specialty was the raising of sheep and cattle, in both of which departments of agriculture he con- tinned with success until his death, in December, 1888, at forty years of age.

In Wurtemberg, Germany, the subject of this sketch was born in 1848, a son of John George Schafer and Martha Jacobena Schafer, also na- tives of that province, where the former was an agriculturist and hotel keeper. The parental family consisted of four sons and three daughters. Of these, J. George, who was a ranchman in Colo- rado, died in Denver; Gottleib is a blacksmith in Germany; Jacob lives in Denver; one daughter is deceased, and the others remain in Germany. Our subject received an excellent education in his native land. At twenty-two years of age he came to the United States and settled in Colorado, where he spent three years in Central City. From there he moved to the ranch now occupied by his family.

The marriage of Mr. Schafer took place in Denver, Colo., and united him with Miss Katha- rine Kieser, who was born in Germany, and is a sister of Mrs. Christopher Hoenehs, of Lincoln

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

County. She was educated in schools in her na- tive land and at the age of nineteen came to America, settling at Central City, Colo. Mr. and Mrs. Schafer became the parents of three sons and one daughter, namely: John George, who superintends the home ranch and attends to all the business of the estate; Conrad and Jaco- bina, also at home; and John, who died at seven years of age.

Mr. Schafer was a highly respected resident of Lincoln County. He was devoted to the welfare of his adopted country and intensely patriotic. Politically he was a Republican and an active worker in his party. To assist the educational progress of the county, he helped actively in the building of the school house at Hugo. In religious matters he followed the faith of his forefathers and always affiliated with the Lutherans. In his home he was a devoted husband and kind father, and his memory is held in fondest recollection in the hearts of his wife and children.

OHN WHITE, mayor of Mancos, is one of the pioneers of La Plata County. In the spring of 1877 he disposed of his property in Huerfano Park and drove his stock across the range to that part of Montezuma County now in- cluded within La Plata. Settling seven and one- half miles from Mancos, he improved one of the finest ranches of this section and devoted his at- tention to the feeding of cattle, becoming one of the heaviest stock-dealers in the county. He made a study of the various methods employed in the raising and feeding of stock, and used such good judgment in his own work that he multi- plied results. He still owns his ranch, but in the fall of 1897 he moved into the village of Mancos, where he now resides.

The parents ofour subject, Jacob and Elizabeth (Rice) White, were born in Switzerland, and came to this county, settling in Allegheny, Pa., where our subject was born in 1835. When he was an infant the parents moved to Missouri and settled in Marion County, near the Mississippi River, where they remained until death. The father was a soldier in the Black Hawk war. His death, which resulted from being thrown from a horse, occurred about 1840. Of his five children three are living, a son and two daughters. One son was killed by Indians in Oregon in 1855 and another contracted lung tronble while serving in the Confederate army and died of consumption. The wife and mother died in 1860.

When a small child, our subject was left father- less, in a new country, where improvements were few, people scarce and comforts entirely lacking. While still very young he helped to support the family. In 1864 he went to Oregon, where he clerked for some time, then prospected in the eastern part of the state and in the placer mines of Montana. In 1866 he went, via Salt Lake, to Cheyenne, Wyo., then the terminus of the Union Pacific road. He furnished the tiling for the North Platte bridge, west of Cheyenne. Later he was given a contract to furnish the tele- graph poles over the Black Hills from Cheyenne to Laramie. In 1867 he came down to Denver, thence continued south, settling sixty miles south of Pueblo, in what is now Huerfano County. Embarking in the stock and farm business, he continued in Huerfano Park until the spring of 1877, since which time he has been a resident of Montezuma County. In addition to stock-raising, he has engaged in mining and now owns several claims.

A lifelong Democrat, Mr. White is interested in politics. For one term he was commissioner of Huerfano County and in the fall of 1897 he was elected commissioner of Montezuma County. In 1891 and 1892 he served as treasurer of Mon- tezuma County. In the spring of 1898 he was elected mayor of Mancos, in which position he has been helpful in advancing local interests. He has been identified with the interests of this sec- tion from pioneer days, and well remembers when Indians were numerous and frequently placed in peril the lives of white settlers. In fraternal re- lations he is a member of Aztec Lodge No. 94, K. P. March 3, 1868, he was united in mar- riage with Mary Arne, a native of Switzerland; they have no children living.

AMUEL MC KIBBIN, M. D., who is a reliable and skillful physician of Creede, Mineral County, is giving his attention to the practice of his profession, in which he has built up a large clientele. In addition to his pri- vate practice, he is physician and surgeon for the Commodore, one of the largest mines in the state, and is medical examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company, the Germania and North- western, the New Jersey Mutual, of Newark, N. J., the Pennsylvania Mutual and the Equitable, of New York. He has also acted as physician for the United Moderns and Woodmen of the World, with both of which he is actively identified,

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Born in Ontario, Canada, January 19, 1859, Dr. Mckibbin is a son of Thomas and Jane (McCloy) McKibbin, natives of Ireland, who set- tled in Canada in 1842. He was educated in the schools of his home neighborhood, where he gained not only a knowledge of the essential branches of study, but also of the classics and sciences. August 24, 1883, he was appointed postmaster at Leadbury, Ontario, which office he filled for eight years, and until his removal to the States. Meantime, having decided to take a medical course, he entered the medical depart- ment of Victoria College in Toronto, where he took the complete course, and also took a special course in the lying-in department connected with the institution.

After graduating with the degree of M. D., Dr. McKibbin removed to Fairgrove, Mich., where he remained for eight years, engaged in the prac- tice of his profession. From there he came to Colorado, and in 1896 settled in Del Norte, but the following year he came to Creede, his present location. He is well known among the people of the place as a reliable practitioner, one who uses care and accuracy in his diagnoses, and whose success in the treatment of difficult and intricate diseases proves that he is entitled to a position among the most successful physicians of Mineral County. He is a member of the Masonic Order and is also connected with the Order of Foresters. He is a man of temperate habits and a stanch Prohibitionist, both in theory and precept. In religion he has his membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Del Norte. March 28, 1894, he was united in marriage with Bertha B., who was born in Waterford, Mich., and is a daughter of Henry N. Ingell, of Grand Rapids, that state.

F. KIDWELL, a prominent stockman of Pueblo County, residing on a ranch on the north bank of the Arkansas River, along the line of the Missouri Pacific and Santa Fe Rail- roads, has lived in this state since 1860, and has been identified with the agricultural interests of this section for over a third of a century. His thoroughly American spirit and his great energy have enabled him to mount from a lowly position to one of affluence. One of his leading character- istics in business affairs is his fine sense of order and complete system and the habit of giving care- ful attention to details, without which success in any undertaking is never an assured fact.

Loudoun County in 1834, and is a son of Ridon and Sarah (Jacobson) Kidwell, also natives of the Old Dominion, where the father died. He was their only son, and he had one half-sister. When a child of five years he accompanied the family on their removal to Clark County, Ohio, where he continued to make his home for ten years, his education being acquired in its common schools. At the end of that time they removed to Logan County, Ill., and on attaining his ma- jority he left home and went to Breckenridge, Mo., on the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, where he lived until coming to Colorado in 1860. He crossed the plains with an ox-team and afterward was employed first at mine No. 8, on Blue River, below Discovery, and later in Nevada Gulch, near Denver. He came to Pueblo County in 1861, before the county was named, and took up the land on which he still lives, and on which he located in the fall of 1862. At that time this region was an unbroken wilderness, the Indians were very troublesome, and the town of Pueblo consisted of a saloon and grocery store situated on the lower end of what is now Santa Fe avenue. There were no railroads until the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road was built through the county twenty-three years ago. In early days Mr. Kidwell helped to bury several men killed by the Indians in this section. On locating here he at once turned his attention to the improvement and cultivation of his land, and now has four hundred acres of valuable land, comprising one of the best ranches in the county. He also has one of the finest orchards and in 1898 shipped four car loads of fruit from his place at one time. He is engaged in general farming and makes a specialty of raising horses and cattle. He has met with marked success in his undertak- ings and is to-day one of the most substantial citizens of his community.

In September, 1878, Mr. Kidwell was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Moore, of Mis- souri, a daughter of Drury and Elizabeth Moore. Her father was a native of Virginia and removed to Missouri at an early day. He was a soldier in the Confederate army during the Civil war. Mrs. Kidwell was reared and educated in her native state and came to Colorado in 1873. Politically our subject is a firm supporter of the Republican party and its principles, and his aid is never with- held from any enterprise for the public good, materially advancing all social, industrial, educa-

A native of Virginia, Mr. Kidwell was born in tional and moral interests. He has efficiently

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

served as a member of the school board, and for years has been treasurer of the Arkansas Valley Irrigation Company and a member of the Colo- rado Cattle Growers' Association.

OBERT G. SIPE., The business interests of Trinidad have a well-known represen- tative in Mr. Sipe, senior member of the firm of R. G. Sipe & Sons, undertakers and fu- neral directors. He came to this city in 1874 and engaged in carpentering and building, soon beginning to take contracts for the erection of houses, and during the summer of 1880 he built thirteen houses in the town. During the same year (1880) he began in the undertaking busi- ness, which for a few years he conducted in con- nection with his trade. Finally, however, the business demanded his entire attention and he gave up his trade. In 1886 he built a business block on Commercial street, and when it was destroyed by fire some years later he at once rebuilt, and now occupies the entire building for business purposes.

Of German descent, our subject is a son of Peter Sipe, who was born in Pennsylvania, but re- moved to Virginia in young manhood and there engaged in work at the carpenter's trade. Polit- ically a Whig, he was a local leader of his party. At the time of his death, which occurred at seventy-five years, he was engaged in lumbering and the sawmill business. He married Mary Ann Bowman, who died at thirty-five years of age. They were the parents of five children, but only three are living: R. G., who was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1847; John, who continues to reside in Virginia; and Sally, wife of Lewis Tiddler, of New Market, that state.

In 1861 our subject entered the Confederate army and for three years served as a private in the infantry, being stationed in and around Rich- mond most of the time. As a member of Pick- ett's Division of Longstreet's Corps, Twenty- eighth Virginia Infantry, he took part in the bat- tle of Cold Harbor and the other engagements of the corps, and was twice wounded. On the day of the evacuation of Richmond he was captured and was held in Libby prison for two weeks, until the war closed. For meritorious service he was promoted to be a sergeant. On his return home in 1865 he engaged in farming, but after a few years in Virginia he removed to Tennessee, where he followed the carpenter's trade and farm pur- suits. In 1874 he removed from Tennessee to

Colorado and settled in Trinidad, where he has since made his home. Here he owns valuable residence property and real estate.

Politically a Democrat, Mr. Sipe was elected county coroner in 1890 and was re-elected for four successive terms. In both city and county affairs he takes a warm interest. Fraternally he is a member of Trinidad Lodge No. 89, A. F. & A. M .; Trinidad Chapter No. 23, R. A. M .; Oriental Commandery No. 18, K. T .; Trinidad Lodge No. 17, I. O. O. F., in which he is past grand; and Rocky Mountain Lodge No. 3, K. P. He married Isephene Guinn, daughter of James Guinn, of Tennessee. They' have three sons, Burney B., Ludy and Edward.

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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 127

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