Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 134

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 134

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Of three children who attained mature years, two of whom are living, our subject was the only son. He was born in Utica, Mo., April 1, 1857. In 1871 he went to Omaha, Neb., where he re- mained for one year. He then spent a year in Iowa, after which he entered the high school at Chillicothe, Mo., remaining there until his grad- uation. His first business position was with Wells, Buell & Co., of Chillicothe, after which he was in the produce business for ten years, be- coming the partner of his former employer, with whom he carried on a wholesale grain and pro- duce business at Albany, Mo. Afterward he was with various wool brokers in St. Louis, Mo., and with the Springfield woolen mills in Springfield, Ill. In 1895 he came to Colorado Springs, where he has since had the headquarters of his business. As a business man he is exceedingly capable and efficient, and has won a name for energy, capa- bility and determination of character.

Though not active in politics, Mr. Matson is a firm Republican. In religion he is of the Episco-

palian faith. He was made a Mason in Athens Lodge No. 127, at Albany, Mo. His marriage, which took place in Pattonsburg, Mo., December 18, 1879, united him with Miss Ida Rogers, a na- tive of Pennsylvania. They have an only child, Rita.

HRISTOPHER HOENEHS, known as one of the enterprising ranchmen of Lincoln County, came to Colorado at the age of twenty-one years and for two years was employed in Central City. In 1882 he removed to Lincoln County and settled on a ranch twenty miles east of Hugo, on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Here he has since made his home. From time to time he has made improvements that have added to the value of the place, one of the most recent of these being the erection of a substantial frame residence.

The father of our subject is Samuel Hoenehs, a farmer of Germany and for years a prominent citizen of his locality. He was especially active in educational work and served for a long time as a member of the school board, besides which he held numerous local offices. In religion he has always been a Lutheran. Now, at eighty years of age, he is living in quiet retirement. He mar- ried Anna Catherine Siegel, who was born in Wurtemberg, and died there in 1884. Of her children Carl Ludwig is a farmer in Iowa; Jacob is engaged in farming on the old homestead; Anna Catherine is a widow and resides in Germany; Marie is the wife of Wendel Steck, of Germany.

In the town in Germany where he was born in 1858 our subject spent his early life. At the age of nineteen he started out for himself and for one year worked in a flour mill. At twenty-one years of age he came to America and at once set- tled in Colorado, in which state he has since resided. He is engaged in the raising of sheep and cattle, in which department of agriculture he is very efficient and successful. The religion of his ancestors, that of the Lutheran Church, is the one to which he has always adhered. In politics he votes the Republican ticket.

In 1881 Mr. Hoenehs married Miss Maria Agnes Kieser, a native of Germany, and a daugh- ter of Johannes Kieser, formerly a farmer and carpenter, but now deceased. She was one of a family of five children, of whom Johannes is a carpenter in the old country; Gottlob is engaged in the stock business near Hugo; Annie Marie is the wife of Johannes Hines, of Germany; and

JASPER N. BEATY.

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Katharine married Conrad Schafer, who was en- gaged in the stock business in Colorado, but died in 1889. Our subject and his wife are the parents of two sons and two daughters, Gottlob S., Conrad, Anna Katrina and Maria Agnes.

ASPER N. BEATY, principal member of the firm of J. N. Beaty & Co., of Manzanola, and one of the prominent stockmen of Otero County, was born in Carroll County, Mo., Jan- uary 22, 1845. There his boyhood days were spent on a farm and in school. When sixteen years of age he entered the employ of a cattle- dealer and engaged in driving cattle from Mis- souri to Illinois. In the spring of 1863 he went to Nebraska City with his brother, James, and from there drove ox-teams across the plain to Fort Hallett, continuing as a freighter for some time. With his savings, in the spring of 1865 he bought a couple of ox-teams and engaged in freighting for himself. When the Union Pacific road was building, in the spring of 1869, he sold out his freighting business and came to Colorado.

Early in 1869 Mr. Beaty took up land near where the village of Manzanola now stands, forty-three miles east of Pueblo. All around him was the wild plain. No attempt had been made at improvement. Starting with a small herd of Texas cattle, he has since continued in the stock business, upon an increasing scale, but in the spring of 1898 he sold thirteen thousand head, thus reducing his stock to four thousand head. At the same time he sold his ranch, comprising eighteen thousand acres of land. About 1878 he opened the first store in Manzanola, and has since carried on a large trade in general merchandise, lumber and coal. In 1897 he erected a large and suitable store room and at the same time added a private banking business, organizing the J. N. Beaty & Co. Bank, January 1, 1898. By his marriage to Miss Jennie Ross, of Sterling, Il1., he has two children, Robert R. and Ruth.

A Democrat in politics, Mr. Beaty has been active in local and state affairs. In 1887 and 1888 he served as a member of the state legislature, where he ably represented his constituents. Years before the formation of Otero County and during the territorial days of the state, he served for some time as county commissioner of Bent Coun- ty. He is still the owner of six thousand acres of land, the greater part of which is in the Arkan- sas Valley, surrounding the village of Manzanola. He and his brother, James, have worked together

in partnership since boys, when they began to drive ox-teams across the country, receiving $20 a month as pay. Since then they have come to be known as the leading stockmen in this part of Colorado, and have also operated largely in Kan- sas and New Mexico. They now own the largest brick block in Manzanola, a two-story building, 100 x 50 feet in dimensions, and carry on a gen- eral wholesale and retail mercantile and private banking business. Starting without capital, they are now classed among the wealthiest men in this section, and have gained a success which is un- usual and noteworthy.

James Beaty was born in Carroll County, Mo., and from boyhood has been associated with his brother, Jasper N. He has been twice married. His first wife, who was Laura M. Good, of Car- roll County, died, leaving two children, Ella and William C. Ella is the wife of H. B. Dye, who is connected with the firm of J. N. Beaty & Co., and William C. is a student in the State Uni- . versity at Boulder. The second marriage of James Beaty united him with Miss Fannie B. Cousins, of Otero County, and two children bless their union, Gladys and John. Like his brother, James Beaty is a Democrat, and takes pleasure in work- ing for his friends in politics, but cares nothing for office himself.

Manzanola is a town of three hundred inhabit- ants, and is largely owned by the firm of J. N. Beaty & Co. It is situated in the fruit belt of · Otero County, on the Santa Fe Railroad, forty miles from Las Animas. By a clause in deeds, prohibition is enforced throughout the town. The main industries of the town are directly connected with the fruit business, which has assumed great importance and has led to the investment of con- siderable capital in orchards here, the results in- variably proving that the business can be carried on very profitably in this locality.

TEPHEN D. CARLETON, a general mer- chant of Alamosa, Conejos County, was born in St. Clair County, Mich., in 1860, a son of Albert A. and Margaret (Falkenbury) Carle- ton, natives of New York. His father, who re- moved to Michigan in young manhood, became a leading attorney of St. Clair and for forty years practiced his profession in that city. Besides the office of county clerk he held many positions of trust and responsibility. He died in 1886, when sixty-three years of age. His wife was forty- nine years of age when she died. He had a

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brother, Ezra Carleton, who was a well-known business man and for several terms served as a member of congress.

One of a family of nine children, the subject of this sketch remained at home until sixteen years of age, meantime attending public schools. He then went to Kansas, where he taught in pub- lic schools for twelve years, for a time being prin- cipal of a graded school. In 1889 he came to Alamosa to take charge of the public school here. After one year in the position he resigned as principal, and accepted the position as manager of the T. C. Henry canal commissary depart- ment, which place he held for eighteen months. In 1892 he opened a small general store in Ala- mosa, and gradually added to his stock of goods until he now owns one of the largest general stores in the town. In 1895 he organized a stock company known as the Carleton Mercantile Com- pany, of which his wife is president and he acts as general manager. He has devoted his atten- tion exclusively to business affairs and has built. up a large and profitable trade.

In 1890 Mr. Carleton assisted in the organiza- tion of the Alamosa Building and Loan Associa- tion, of which he was chosen secretary and gen- eral manager, and continued as such during the entire existence of the association, until 1898. He has never identified himself with any political organization, but is independent in his views. As a member of the town board of trustees he favors all measures for the benefit of the people and the advancement of the village. Fraternally he is a member of Alamosa Lodge No. 44, A. F. & A. M. In 1884 he married Miss Adella E. Clayton, of Kansas. They are the parents of two children, Albert R. and Cecil H.

EORGE M. HOUSTON, who is engaged in the lumber business in Colorado Springs and is also interested in a number of successful mines, is of eastern parentage and Scotch descent. His grandfather, Alexander Houston, was born in New York state and engaged in stock-raising in Steuben County, whence he removed to Ohio in an early day, settling in Cincinnati and engaging in milling there. He married Miss Elizabeth Mills, from Bucks County, Pa. Their son, Col. George Houston, was born in Steuben County, N. Y., and spent his boyhood years in Cincinnati, later becoming a farmer near Hamil- ton, Butler County. During the Mexican war he was colonel of an Ohio regiment. In the fall

of 1851 he settled in Peoria, Ill., where he en- gaged in the mercantile business, but after a few years removed to a farm near Galva, that state. There he engaged in farming and stock-raising until his death. Politically he was a Democrat. Fraternally he was prominent in the Masonic order. His death occurred December 22, 1874, in his seventy-first year.

In Butler County, Ohio, in 1851, Colonel Hous- ton married Nancy Jane Harr, who was born there, a daughter of Joseph and Catherine (Moudy) Harr. Her father, who was a native of Lancaster County, Pa., removed to Ohio in 1814 and settled on unimproved land in Butler County. In time he became the owner of several farms. He died in Butler County at sixty-nine years of age. His wife, who was born in Maryland, died in Indiana at seventy-five years. His father, Rudolph Harr, was a farmer of Lancaster County and a descendant of a Swiss family that settled in Pennsylvania several generations prior to his birth. Mrs. Houston removed to Belleville, Kan., in 1890, and has since made her home in that city. Since nineteen years of age she has been a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Our subject was seventh among ten children who attained mature years, one other having died in infancy. They are named as follows: Debo- rah, Mrs. Cummings, who died in Galva, Ill .; Della, who died at Atlanta, Ga .; Mrs. Jennie Richardson, whose husband is a lumber merchant at Guthrie, Okla .; Mrs. Josephine Guthrie, wife of a large stock dealer in Formosa, Kan .; Frankie, wife of Albert Stuckey, who is a miner and resides in Colorado Springs; Alexander C., a lumber merchant of Eureka, Kan .; George M .; Samuel J., a lumber merchant of Neodesha, Kan .; Mills, a lumber and hardware merchant of Miami, I. T .; and Mrs. Laura Dorherty, whose husband is a physician in Belleville, Kan.

Born on the home farm near Galva, Il1., Novem- ber 1, 1863, our subject attended the public schools of that city, and was graduated from the com- mercial college in Davenport, Iowa. His brother, Alexander C., having left home when young, the management of the farm fell upon his shoulders, and from the age of eleven years he was practi- cally the head of the house. In 1888 he went to Eureka, Kan., where, with his brother, Alexan- der C., he engaged in the lumber business, the firm title being Houston Brothers. In 1891 he bought out his brother's interest and continued

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the business alone, besides having branch yards for a few years. He is still interested in the business in that place, which is conducted under the name of the Houston Lumber Company. His brother has an interest in that business and in ten other yards in Kansas and the Indian Terri- tory.

Coming to Colorado Springs in 1896 Mr. Hous- ton opened a lumber yard here, of which he is sole proprietor, and which occupies forty thou- sand square feet at No. 17 West Vermijo street. Here he carries on a large wholesale and retail trade in lumber and all kinds of building mate- rial. Six months after coming here he incorpo- rated the Pike's Peak Lumber Company, of which he was president and the principal owner. This business subsequently was consolidated with his principal lumber yard. He is a member of the Missouri and Kansas Lumber Dealers' Associa- tion, and the Colorado, New Mexico and Wyo- ming Lumber Dealers' Association. While living in Eureka, Kan., he was made a Mason, receiv- ing both the blue lodge and Royal Arch degrees. In religion he is connected with the First Presby- terian Church, and in politics is stanch in his adherence to the Republican party. His marriage took place in Victoria, Ill., and united him with Miss Agnes Grace Cook, who was born there, and is a daughter of James Cook, a stockman there. They have been the parents of three chil- dren, but one, Marguerite, died in 1897, at five years of age. Their surviving children are two daughters: Agnes, four years of age; and an infant.

ONAS NEUN, a well-known and prominent merchant of Boone, Pueblo County, was born in Marietta, Washington County, Ohio, in 1850, and is a son of Jonas and Dorothy (Grate) Neun, who are now living in Pittsburg, Pa. The father was one of the brave defenders of the Union during the Civil war, a member of an Ohio regi- ment, and he followed merchandising as a life work. Of his three sons, George was a member of a cavalry company in Virginia during the war, and John was with Sherman on his celebrated march to the sea. In his family are also five daughters, all of whom now reside in Pittsburg, Pa.

Our subject spent his boyhood and youth in his native city, his education being obtained in its public schools. At the age of sixteen he learned the plasterer's trade, which he followed

in Ohio for eight years, and was thus employed at Arlington, Colo., for three years, having come to this state in 1888. For the same length of time he worked at his trade in Pueblo and then re- turned to Arlington, where he established a store and engaged in merchandising. For the past three years he has been a resident of Boone, hav- ing purchased a store at this place. He carries a large and well-selected stock of general mer- chandise, and by fair and honorable dealing he has built up a good trade. He has the confi- dence and respect of all who know him, and has most acceptably filled the office of postmaster dur- ing his residence here. In his political affilia- tions he is a Republican, and socially was at one time a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Neun has been twice married, first in Ohio, to Miss Lizzie Haas, by whom he had one child. In 1886 he was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Newbecker, of Iowa, and to them have been born three children, namely: John W., Alma and Ethel.

Y JEORGE J. ORTNER, proprietor of the Pueblo brass foundry, came to Colorado in the spring of 1882 and in July, 1884, set- tled in Pueblo, where he at once opened a foundry business, starting what is now the only exclusive brass foundry in the city. Much of his first work was for the Midland Railroad Com- pany, whose brass contracts he had for five years, until the road went into the receiver's hands. He also had contracts for smelters and iron foundries. A man of inventive ability, he invented and patented a battery zinc electric battery, the special feature of which is the ease with which the zinc is changed, without wasting a particle. He also manufactures models of all kinds. The location of the foundry is No. 122 West Third street.

The parents of our subject, Leonard and Cath- erine (Graff) Ortner, were natives of Germany, and were married in Newark, N. J. For some years he engaged in the butchering business in Erie County, N. Y., and is still living at Buffalo, but is retired from active business cares. His wife died in Trinidad, Colo., in 1894, while visiting in that city. They were the parents of five sons and one daughter, the latter being the wife of a physician in Florence, Colo., while four of the sons are business men of Buffalo.

Born April 13, 1860, our subject was reared in

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his native city of Buffalo. At the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a brass and iron moulder, and remained with Pratt & Letchworth for four years as an apprentice, after which he worked for a year as journeyman. Later he traveled through Canada, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, following his trade, and spent eleven months in Chicago. From Missouri he came to Colorado and for two years was em- ployed on heavy iron casting, being for one year with F. M. Davis, and one year with Hendy & Meyer, of Denver. For seven months he con- ducted an iron foundry of his own, at the foot of Seventeenth street, in Denver, but sold it and removed to Pueblo. He gives his entire time and thought to business affairs, and has had little opportunity, had he so desired, to mingle with other citizens in public affairs. He has never allied himself with either of the prominent politi- cal parties, but has maintained an independence of attitude that finds expression in voting for the best candidates, irrespective of party tickets. While living in Denver he married Miss Emma B. Pryor, who was born in Leavenworth, Kan., but has resided in Colorado from girlhood. Two children bless their union, Roy and Nina.

ADY R. HALSEY, the leading druggist of Buena Vista, Chaffee County, was born in China, December 7, 1870. His father, John S. Halsey, was born in Chenango County, N. Y., and after the age of seventeen years was em- ployed on a whaling ship for a few years. Later he settled on the Sandwich Islands and engaged in the sale of jewelry and musical instruments, going from there to Manila, where he remained for some time, thence to China. He was for twenty-two years connected with the custom- house service in that country, but finally was obliged to resign on account of ill-health. The company in whose employ he had been for so long a time granted him a two years' leave of ab- sence, hoping that by change of climate he might be permanently benefited. He returned to the United States, and while at Norwich, N. Y., was told that the Haywood hot springs, nine miles from Buena Vista, would prove helpful in freeing him from rheumatism. He at once came to Colorado and tried the baths at the springs, the result being that he was greatly benefited. At the same time he became interested in the mining business and invested in stock in the Stonewall

mine at Hancock, which he sold afterward. He also bought a large sheep ranch in the vicinity of Colorado Springs.

Returning to China, Mr. Halsey disposed of his interests in that country. On his return to Colorado, he, with others, bought the Jimmie Mack mine in Tincup and built a large mill there. The mine continued to be operated successfully until 1893, when the depreciation of silver obliged him to close the mine, but it is still owned by the family. In 1885, five years after he first came to Colorado, he built a business block in Buena Vista, and in this building his son, our subject, now conducts a drug business. In politics he continued to be a Republican until 1896, when he identified himself with the silver movement. For two terms he held the office of mayor. He was a member of the Episcopal Church and the Masonic fraternity.

The success which Mr. Halsey attained was truly remarkable, when it is considered that he had no educational advantages in youth and had to begin the earning of his own livelihood when he was twelve. While he had no opportunity to attend school, he gained from travel a knowl- edge more valuable than is to be derived from text-books, and by observation and self-culture became a well-informed man. He died in 1895, when sixty-four years of age. His death was felt to be a public loss. He had been for so long identified with the mining and public interests of Chaffee County that he was recognized as one of its most valuable citizens, and wielded a large and important influence among his fellow-citizens.

Mr. Halsey is survived by his wife, formerly Amelia Ripley, a native of Chenango County, N. Y., and now a resident of Buena Vista. In religion she is an Episcopalian. Our subject was four years of age when he left China with his mother, and six years afterward he came to Buena Vista, which town he has since made his home. For several years he was a student in Jarvis Hall, Denver, after which he spent a year in Rutgers grammar school at New Brunswick, N. J., and then took one year of study in Den- ver University. He also had the advantage of study under a private tutor, for whom his father had sent east and who remained with him for two years, at the same time instructing a brother, John S., Jr., who is now engaged in the mill business in the City of Mexico.

After completing his education our subject worked for J. W. Yelton and Dr. Bradley, of

FRANK DOLL.

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Buena Vista, in a drug store. When Dr. Brad- ley failed, our subject's father purchased the store and placed him in charge of the same. In order to fit himself for the work of a pharmacist he attended the Denver College of Pharmacy and passed the required examination. In politics he is independent, inclining toward the Democratic party. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. In 1897 he was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Butler, of Buena Vista, where they have established a pleasant home. They are prominent in social circles and are attendants at the Episcopal Church.

RANK DOLL, who is a member of the firm of Doll Brothers, proprietors of a ranch situ- ated four miles from Gypsum, in Eagle Coun- ty, was born near Canton, Ohio, in 1851, a son of George and Susan (Meiser) Doll, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively. His mother, who died in 1893, was a daughter of a wealthy farmer of Stark County, Ohio, who set- tled there a few years after his marriage. The Doll family was represented among the colonial settlers of Virginia. George Doll, who was a veterinary surgeon, was employed by the govern- ment in that capacity for four years during the Civil war, and spent the greater part of his life in Ohio, where he died in 1883. Of his sons, Samuel is connected with our subject in the ranch business and other enterprises in Colorado and Ohio, including a large coal and clay business in the latter state. Hiram, who resides in Stark County, has served as county treasurer, and was the first Republican sheriff of that county after the close of the war. He is now president of a coal company in Ohio, which his other brothers own interests in, and is president of a brick and tile company in which they are also interested. The third brother, Zachariah, is superintendent of the business of which his brother is president.

In 1887 the subject of this sketch came to Colo- rado, and, with his brother Samuel, purchased the land where their ranch is located. At that time it was raw and contained nothing but sage brush. The sole improvement was a small cabin. Under their supervision a great change has been wrought. The location of the property is fine, it being in a beautiful valley which extends from Gypsum, a small town on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, to the mountains. The ranch contains sixteen hundred acres, of which almost every foot is under cultivation. The soil

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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 134

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