Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 139

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 139

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money and influence. He is now numbered among the substantial citizens of his town and county. Endowed by nature with good business ability, he has made the most of his opportunities, and his enterprise and good management have gained for him a well-deserved prosperity.

ERBERT C. DIMICK. The business in- terests of Leadville have an able representa- tive in the subject of this sketch, who is a leading architect and builder in this city. Since entering upon this line of labor he has been given contracts for many of the important buildings here, among them the American National Bank building, the residence of Horace C. Mitchell, and others of the substantial business blocks and private houses of the place. He has recently erected for himself an elegant residence occupy- ing an eminence overlooking the town and com- manding a fine view of the surrounding moun- tains.

The record of the Dimick family can be traced back to the days of William the Conqueror. Limon Dimick, who was a contractor and builder, and the inventor of many patents, married Sophia Spooner, whose ancestors came to this country in the "Mayflower." Among their children was a son, Erastus H. Dimick, born in Burlington, Vt., and also an architect and builder by occupation, residing for some years in his native town, thence removing to Potsdam, N. Y., and from there in 1865, to Ottawa, Kan. In 1874 he established his home in Boulder, Colo., where he remained until 1879, and afterward lived in Leadville until his death in 1882. In religion a Baptist, he lead the music in almost every congregation with which he was identified, and built a Baptist church in every town where he resided. In politics he was a Republican and fraternally held connection with the Masons. He married Julia Nash Kelsey, a native of Massachusetts, where her father, Cybele Kelsey, was a farmer; she survived her husband eleven years, dying in 1893. She had a great-uncle, James Wither- spoon, who was a signer of the declaration of in- dependence, and her husband had several uncles who fought in the Revolutionary war. Of her children, Wilbur C. is in his brother's employ; Ella T. died after becoming the mother of two children by her marriage with H. H. Harris.

In Potsdam, N. Y., where he was born in 1853, the subject of this sketch spent his early years in the home of his father, Erastus H.

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Dimick. He was twelve years of age when the family moved to Ottawa, Kan., where the ensuing nine years were spent. Coming to Boulder in 1874, he remained there until 1879, when he accompanied his father to Leadville, and for three years the two were in partnership as architects and contractors. Since then he has been alone. He gives his attention closely to his business affairs and, aside from voting the Republican ticket at elections, takes no part in politics. He is inter- ested in educational matters. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World.

In 1882 Mr. Dimick married Sade, daughter of John Ellingham, a farmer of Rock Island County, Ill. In the family of which she is a member there were six brothers, and two of these, Robert and John, became prominent in Boulder County, where Robert served as county treasurer for three years, and John was elected sheriff. Mrs. Dimick is a lady of culture and broad education, and has taught with success in the schools of Illinois, as well as in Boulder. The only child born of her marriage to Mr. Dimick died when three years of age.

DGAR MCDANIEL, chief of police of Cripple Creek, was born in Mount Sterling, Il1., September 7, 1851, and in that town his youthful years were passed and his education obtained. His first employment was the buying and shipment of stock, in which he engaged un- til the fall of 1884, hoping that a change of cli- mate might benefit his health, then seriously im- paired. Settling in Meade, Kan., he engaged in the real-estate business. This was prior to the organization of Meade County, and as he had originally planned, when organization was ef- fected, the county-seat was located at Meade Cen- ter. In the spring of 1890 he opened a restau- rant in the town and continued the business for a little less than two years.

December, 1891, found Mr. McDaniel in Crip- ple Creek, where he engaged in the hotel busi- ness on the corner of Carr and Third streets. This property he still owns, but now rents. In both fires that devastated the city he was burned out, but resumed business as soon as possible afterward. Politically heis stanch in his allegi- ance to the Democratic party. When a young man he was for two terms supervisor of Brown County, Ill. In April, 1898, he was elected chief of police on the straight Democratic ticket, and has since filled this position with characteristic energy. He

is interested in a number of mining enterprises that are leased, some of them being quite favor- able propositions. Fraternally he is connected with the Improved Order of Red Men.

While living in Illinois Mr. McDaniel mar- ried Miss Hattie Mobley, of Brown County. They became the parents of two daughters: Elma, who is the wife of U. G. Danford, of this city; and Jessie Leta, who died February 25, 1898.

OHN HARVEY, president of the John Har- vey Fuel and Feed Company, and one of the successful business men of Leadville, was born in Lanark, Scotland, in 1844, a son of John and Anna (Carmichael) Harvey, also natives of Lanarkshire. His father, who was a manufac- turer of blankets, spent his entire life in Scot- land and was accidentally killed there at forty years of age. In religion he was a Presbyterian and a deacon in the church. His wife was a daughter of Alexander Carmichael, a prosperous merchant of Lanark. Of their marriage nine children were born, those besides our subject be- ing Alexander, who has been connected with the board of public works in Denver and is now a contractor in that city; William, also a contractor in Denver; Anna, wife of Alexander Day; Eliza- beth, deceased; Margaret, who lives in Scotland; Jane, widow of James Izett, of Denver; Mary, Mrs. Andrew Walker, of Denver; and Catherine, whose husband, John Clarke, is bookkeeper for our subject.

The early years of our subject's life were spent in Scotland, where his education was acquired in common and private schools. For some time he was in the employ of the Caledonian Railroad Company, continuing with it until he came to Colorado in the spring of 1870. He was then with the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company in Denver for a year, during the building of the road to Kit Carson, and later was chief clerk for W. W. Borst, superintendent and acting freight and passenger agent of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. From there he was transferred to the treasury department of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, where he continued for eight years.

Coming to Leadville in 1879, Mr. Harvey was employed in the Miners' Exchange Bank for a year. In July, 1880, he embarked in the busi- ness which he has since conducted, and which is one of the large wholesale and retail enterprises of the city. While he started on a small scale,

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he has built up a large trade in coal, grain and fuel, and now handles all the coal that comes over the Denver & Rio Grande road. Beginning life for himself with little or no capital, save a pair of willing hands and a stout heart, he has been prospered financially, and is now well-to-do. His life has not only been prosperous financially, but successful in the fact that he has maintained a reputation for integrity and honor. From youth to mature years, his career as a business man and citizen has been distinguished by un- wavering honesty, unfailing kindness and thoughtful consideration of others which has en- deared him to a multitude of friends.

In matters political Mr. Harvey is a firm Re- publican. For years he has been president of the school board of Leadville, which responsible po- sition he has filled efficiently. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason. His marriage, in 1866, united him with Jennie M., daughter of Alexander Smith, a glass manufacturer of Brooklyn, N. Y. They are the parents of five children: John, Jr., who is a lieutenant in Troop A, U. S. A .; Alexander, who is connected with the office of the clerk of Lake County; William, who is employed by the Tompkins Hardware Company; Annie, and Madge, in Denver attending school.

HOMAS ROBSON, proprietor of a whole- sale and retail grocery at No. 302 Harrison avenue, Leadville, is of English birth and parentage. He was born at Newcastle in 1850, a son of William and Ann Robson, natives of the same place, the former being a merchant and owner of a large farm, conducting both his store and his farm until he passed away at sixty- eight years; in religion he was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife was a daughter of a land owner and farmer. They were the parents of one son (our subject) and four daughters: Margaret N., Dorothy, Mary and Elizabeth, all living in England.

When sixteen years of age our subject began to earn his own livelihood, and for some time he was connected with a mercantile establishment in Yorkshire. In 1875 he came to the United States and settled in Peabody, Kan., where for five years he engaged in farming and the grocery business, being connected with the former occupa- tion for two years, and the latter three years. From Kansas he came to Leadville in 1880 and established a wholesale and retail flour, feed and

grocery business, which he has since conducted, meeting with success, through the exercise of sound judgment and untiring perseverance.

In 1883 Mr. Robson married Belle McConnell, who was born in Canada and by whom he has one daugliter, Florence. Politically he is a Re- publican, but never displays a partisan spirit, being too liberal in his views to permit any narrowness in his opinions. Some years ago he was elected mayor of Leadville, which position he filled with credit to himself, and he has also been a member of the city council. He is connected with the blue lodge of Masonry and the Wood- men of the World. Besides his main store he owns a retail grocery in Minturn, and he also has important mining interests.

EORGE E. BOWLAND, clerk of Eagle County and a prominent citizen of Red Cliff since coming to this place in 1880, was born in Summit County, Ohio, in 1852, a son of John and Cordelia E. (Hoyal) Bowland, natives re- spectively of Ireland and Vermont. His father, who settled in Ohio in early life, engaged in the commission business in Akron, Ohio, until 1849, when he went to California during the gold ex- citement in that state. He remained there for eighteen months, after which he returned to Summit County, Ohio. Afterward for five years he engaged in farming in Ohio, and then removed to Queenstown, Canada, where he carried on a mercantile business until 1874. During the latter year he came to Colorado, settling in Den- ver, where he resided until his death, in 1893. While he never took a very active part in public affairs, he kept informed concerning national questions and allied himself with the Republican party. His wife, who was the daughter of a merchant of Vermont and later of Ohio, has made her home in Denver, Colo., since 1874. Of her children, John H. is engaged in mining in Colorado; Frank D. and Fremont also reside in Colorado; Henrietta M. is the wife of Jackson Wheeler, a mine operator; Florence married Perry Hines, who is interested in mining at Cripple Creek; William and Charles also live in Colorado.

When the subject of this sketch was a child of five years his father moved to Canada, and there he spent the years of youth, obtaining his educa- tion in common schools. Upon starting out to make his way in the world he went to Chicago, where he was variously employed for five years.

Chas Walder

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In 1874 he came to Colorado, and spent a short time in Denver, but soon went to Virginia City, Nev., where he remained until 1880; meantime he was engaged in the mercantile business for four years. He then came to the camp at Red Cliff, which had been started the year before, and . here he has since been interested in mining. During much of the time since 1884 he has been in the county clerk's office, first as deputy, and in 1889 was first elected to the office, which he still holds, the present being his third term. He is conscientious and faithful in the discharge of his duties, and is a popular official.

In 1889 Mr. Bowland married Miss Mary A., daughter of Hon. Andrew Scanland, an influential attorney of Pittsfield, Il1., and for years judge of a district court in Illinois. To this marriage three children were born, Sue, Florence and Edward. In his political views Mr. Bowland is a strong silver Republican, and it is upon this party ticket that he has received his election as county clerk. He also served for some time as under-sheriff. In fraternal relations he is con- nected with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. His wife holds member- ship in the Christian Church.

HARLES WALDEN, superintendent of the Last Dollar Gold Mining Company, and one of the most popular mine operators at Victor, was born and reared in Germany, where in early life he was connected with a mercantile business. In 1882 he crossed the ocean and proceeded across the continent as far as Colorado, where he settled, and commenced to make a study of mining. For a few years he was at Leadville and other camps. Upon the start of the camp at Cripple Creek it 1891, he came to this place when it had but four or five houses, and the sur- rounding hills were covered with native forests. After having had charge of some prospecting in this district, in 1894 he became connected with the Last Dollar mine. Its prospects were not en- couraging, its outlook seemed dark, but through his energy and determination he has made a suc- cess of it, and recently he put in an eighty-horse power boiler and electric lights.

Besides his connection with this mine, Mr. Walden has interests in several claims in this camp, owning two patented claims and an interest in several patents. He is also interested in two patented claims in Boulder County as well, these being operated by the Shoshone Gold Mining

Company, of which James Doyle, of Victor, is also a member. Politically he votes the Demo- cratic ticket, and frequently attends the conven- tions of his party, but invariably declines nomina- tion for office.

The Last Dollar mine is provided with a double compartment shaft, six hundred and fifty feet, besides one of four hundred and another of five hundred feet, the shafts being four hundred feet apart, with underground connection on the third, fourth and fifth levels, with several cross- cuts. As the depth increases, the ore increases in richness and quantity. Much development work has been done and the mine is in splendid condition. That his management has been satis- factory to the company is proved by his long retention as its superintendent.

Mr. Walden was married in May, 1886, to Miss Emily Wise, a native of Germany.

RTHUR W. SEABURY, M. D., one of the rising young physicians of Buena Vista, is a

- member of the firm of Seabury & Gafford, well known throughout Chaffee County. He is recognized as a careful and indefatigable student of his profession, and has attained a high repu- tation for learning among other practitioners in Buena Vista. The ability that is bringing him to a position in the front rank of local profes- sional men is always at the service of his com- munity for the promotion of meritorious enter- prises, and for the advancement of professional work. For one year he held the office of coun- ty coroner and he has also served as county physician.

In Yarmouth, Cumberland County, Me., Dr. Seabury was born, October 21, 1864. He at- tended an academy in Yarmouth for some years, and at the age of seventeen entered the Memphis Hospital College, of Memphis, Tenn., from which he graduated in 1886. Afterward he took a post- graduate course in Bowdoin College at Bruns- wick, Me. Coming to Colorado in 1887, he opened an office in Durango, and for five years he car- ried on a practice there. During much of that time he was connected with Dr. W. R. Winter's Sisters Hospital at that place. From Durango he removed to River Falls, Wis., and after two years came from there to Buena Vista, in May, 1896, and in August of the same year forming a partnership with Dr. Gafford.

By his marriage to Miss Hattie E. Howser, of Durango, Colo., Dr. Seabury has one daughter,

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Verna. In politics he is a silver Republican. He is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church, with which he and his wife are identified. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World, and Aztec Lodge No. 94, K. P., in Mancos, Colo.

C OHN L. GAFFORD, M. D., member of the firm of Seabury & Gafford, practicing phy- sicians, of Buena Vista, Chaffee County, was born in Washington, D. C., August 21, 1865. At five years of age he went to Hiawatha, Kan., where his education was primarily obtained in public schools. For two years he was a student in the Stansbury Normal School at Stansbury, Mo. Learning the tinner's trade, he followed that occupation for three years. Later he turned his attention to telegraphy, which he had learned in boyhood. He secured employment as oper- ator and agent at Wymore, Neb., where he remained for two years. Afterward he managed a hardware business in Preston, Neb., for eighteen months, and later had charge of a similar busi- ness in Roseland, Neb., for one year.

Determining to enter the medical profession, he entered the Northwestern Medical College at St. Joe, Mo., and there he remained for three years, and afterward was a student in the Central Medical College of St. Joe, from which he grad- uated March 4, 1894. Coming to Colorado at once after graduation, he was employed as as- sistant in the Salida, Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Hospital for some months, and later practiced in Shawnee, Okla. In August, 1896, he came to Buena Vista, and here he has prac- ticed his profession, in partnership with Dr. Sea- bury. They have been physicians for the state reformatory at Buena Vista since 1896. They are physicians for the Golf Mining and Milling Company and Buena Vista Smelting and Refining Company, of this place, and have been retained as local surgeons for the Denver & Rio Grande, Colorado Midland and Colorado & Southern Rail- roads. They are also conducting a private sani- tarium at Buena Vista.

12 AVID C. MARKER, principal member of the firm of Marker & Co., dealers in hardware and furniture at Lamar, Prowers County, was born near Winchester, Va., Sep- tember 30, 1857, a son of W. F. and Margaret (Larrick) Marker. When he was quite small the Civil war broke in its storm of fury upon the country, and he was in the locality where the

fight raged fiercest, but was too young to be deeply impressed by the stirring events of the times. At twenty-two years of age he went to Illinois, where he worked his way through the freshman class of Carthage College. When a boy he learned the carpenter's trade under his father, and after leaving college he went to Blooming- ton, where he worked at his trade during 1884 and 1885. In 1886 he went to Wellington, Kan., and from there to Jetmore, that state. In November of the same year he came to Lamar, where he worked at his trade, having the contract for the schoolhouse, courthouse, and others among the first buildings erected in the town.

In 1890 Mr. Marker bought the stock of Rabb furniture store and later put in a stock of hardware, since which time he has carried on a large trade extending through this part of the county. Besides his furniture business and in connection with it, he carries on an undertaking business. The building in which he conducts his store is owned by him, and he also owns two hundred and forty acres of land, a part of which is under irrigation. He is a Democrat in his political belief. As a member of the village council he voted for those measures calculated to advance the development of the village and en- hance the prosperity of the people. Since the organization of the United Presbyterian Church in Lamar he has been treasurer of the congre- gation. Fraternally he is connected with Lamar Lodge No. 90, A. F. & A. M.

In January, 1890, Mr. Marker married Miss Mary Maxwell, who died in September, 1896, leaving an only child, William W., born in De- cember, 1890. The second marriage of Mr. Marker was solemnized in January, 1898, and united him with Flora Maxwell, sister of his first wife, and a lady of estimable character and ami- able disposition.

A LONZO WELTY, proprietor of the Windsor livery at Cripple Creek, was born in Tus- carawas County, Ohio, May 26, 1852. His father, Levi, a native of the same county, re- moved from there in 1854 to Mendota, La Salle County, Ill., and after three years settled in As- sumption, the same state, where he was proprie- tor of a hotel until the spring of 1861. He then came to Colorado and settled at Buffalo Flats, Summit County, afterward removing to the American Gulch, in the same county, where he engaged in mining. During the winter of 1861-

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62 he was in charge of his stock on Adobe Creek south of Canon City. In the spring of 1862 he rented what was known as the Hardscrabble ranch in Fremont County, where he carried on a general farm business during the summer. Re- turning to Summit County in the spring of 1863, he kept a boarding house and also engaged in mining. In the fall he went to Black Hawk, later settled in Denver, where he continued until the fall of 1865, and then returned to Mendota, Ill., in order that his children might have needed educational advantages. In the spring of 1866 he settled on a ranch in El Paso County, Colo., near Monument, where he engaged in ranching and the stock business. From that place, in the fall of 1871, he removed his stock to Four Mile Creek, ten miles west of Cripple Creek. In the spring of 1872 our subject opened a road to Pis- gah Park (now Cripple Creek), which was at that time an excellent summer range for cattle. He and his brother George built the first house erected in the Cripple Creek district, and here they made their headquarters during the summer months, while their cattle pastured on the range. After five years the brothers sold their ranch to Bob and Will Womack, who put the patents on the land in order to hold it for their cattle. After the property was sold our subject returned to the ranch near Monument, where he raised stock, farmed and operated a sawmill. This property is still owned by his father, who rents it and makes his home in Colorado Springs. He is now about seventy-five years of age. In politics he was formerly a Republican, but isnow a Prohibi- tionist.

In 1882 a division of property was made by the brothers, Alonzo, George and Frank Welty, who had been partners, and in this division our sub- ject was given two ranches near Monument. Here he carried on a stock business until 1890, when he sold out and afterward spent a few months in Pueblo. January 12, 1892, he came to Cripple Creek and for six months was in part- nership with S. P. Faulkner, his brother-in-law, in the livery business, at the expiration of which time he purchased a barn, and eight months later bought an interest in a livery business with Mr. Williams. Four and one-half years later he pur- chased his partner's interest, and has since man- aged the business. After the great fire, in which he was burned out, he built a substantial brick barn, and now has one of the leading liveries here. He is interested in several mining claims,

the Crescent, Bonanza Queen, etc., owning prob- ably three or four hundred thousand shares in different mining stocks in this district. Besides the barn which he manages, he owns two other barns in the city and residence property also. July 20, 1881, he married Miss Luella Bidle, of Husted, Colo., and they have two daughters, Minnie and Lucy. Politically he is a silver Re- publican. He is a charter member of the Wood- men of the World, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Lodge No. 101, I. O. O. F. (the first lodge started here) and Gold Hill Rebekah Lodge No. I.

In the spring of 1872, when our subject and his brother George were building their log house (the first building erected here), George fell from the roof with a bundle of shingles and was injured by the fall. Two days later one of their hired men was thrown from his horse and his leg was broken. For this reason one of their work- men, Billy Gibbs, suggested calling this stream Cripple Creek. Thus originated the name by which the most famous mining camp in the world is now known:

CLAYTON J. S. HOOVER, county clerk and recorder of Garfield County, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., June 2, 1853, a son of John S. and Fannie (Stehman) Hoover, natives of Pennsylvania, and descendants of early set- tlers in the state. Seven generations of the Hoover family have lived in this country, and they have been known as industrious, long-lived and energetic people. His father, who was a farmer aud stock-raiser, moved from Lancaster to Cumberland County in early life and there en- gaged in farming. Politically he voted the Re- publican ticket. His father was a native of Lan- caster County, Pa., and spent his life mostly upon a farm there. Our subject was one of two chil- dren, but his brother died in childhood. He spent his boyhood years in Cumberland County and was educated primarily in public schools, after which he attended the State Normal School at Millersville, one of the oldest educational insti- tutions in Pennsylvania. In 1878 he graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and during the same year he returned to Pennsylvania, where he spent a short time, thence coming west to Kansas City.

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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 139

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