Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 14

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 14

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At the inception of the Colorado Midland Rail- road Mr. Howbert was one of its principal or- ganizers, and was made treasurer of both railway and construction company. On the completion of the road, owing to the pressure of other busi- ness, he severed his connection with the com- pany.

In 1878 he became one of the owners of the Robert E. Lee mine, at Leadville, and largely through his judicious management it became for a time one of the largest producers and most noted mines of the state. It yielded a compe- tence for himself and each of his associates. Since that date he has been more or less closely- connected with mining operations in various parts of the state. He has taken a prominent part in the development of the Cripple Creek mining district, and at the present writing is president, vice-president and director in half a dozen companies.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In the ranks of the Republican party Mr. Howbert has been a potential factor. For many years he was a delegate to almost every state con- vention. In 1882 he was elected, without oppo- sition, a member of the state senate, and during his term of four years he forwarded many im- portant bills, and served upon various commit- tees. At the close of his term he declined a re- nomination. In 1888 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention in Chicago when Benjamin Harrison received his first nomination for the presidency. In 1894 he was chairman of the state central Republican committee, and to his efforts was largely due the defeat of Gov- ernor Waite. The Republican nomination for the office of governor was repeatedly offered him, when such nomination was equivalent to election, but he has always refused to accept.

In 1888 he went to Europe, where, with his family, he spent fifteen months in travel and rec- reation. In 1897, with his family, he made another tour of Europe, spending the winter in Italy, Egypt and Greece. He has always taken a great interest in educational matters. Since 1880 he has been a trustee of Colorado College, and for a short time he was regent of the Uni- versity of Colorado, having been appointed to fill a vacancy in the board. In the organization of the Chamber of Commerce he took an active part and has since officiated as one of its di- rectors.

In 1874 Mr. Howbert married Lizzie A., daughter of William L. Copeland. She was born in Illinois, a descendant of many generations of New England ancestors. The two children born of their union are Alice May and William.

When Colorado Springs was started in 1871, Mr. Howbert was serving as county clerk and assisted in securing the land on which the town was located. He has not only watched with pleas- ure the development of Colorado Springs, his chosen home, with which his personal interests are so closely identified, but he has also wit- nessed with pride the growth of Colorado, to which he came in its territorial days. Through his connection with banking, mining and rail- roads, he has done much to develop the state. From his first residence at the Springs he has been prominently identified with the financial, educational and social interests of the city. To the town since the days of its infancy he has been a tower of strength. In society he is known and appreciated as a gentleman of liberal

views, broad information and public spirit, one who is entitled to high regard by reason of his upright character, sincerity of purpose and hon- orable life.

YRUS F. TAYLOR, M. D., has been iden- tified with the history of Pueblo since 1880, and has been prominent, not only profes- sionally, but in many important enterprises tend- ing toward the material prosperity of the city. For one term he officiated as mayor of Central Pueblo, in the days when it was separate from Pueblo. He was a member of the board of trus- tees of Central Pueblo and served as city physi- cian of South Pueblo. From 1884 to 1886 he held the office of coroner of Pueblo County, and afterward, for two terms, he held the position of county superintendent of schools, retiring in Jan- uary, 1890. From 1890 to 1892 he held the chairmanship of the county central committee of the Republican party. Since his retirement from the latter position he has not participated actively in politics, but his interest in the success of the Republican party is as great as ever, and his in- formation concerning current events is thorough and broad.

Dr. Taylor is a grandson of Jonas Taylor, a native of England, who accompanied his parents to America in childhood and settled with them in Knox County, Me. During the war of 1812 he took part with the army of his adopted country. By occupation he was a farmer. His son, Cyrus Taylor, was born in Warren, Knox County, and in boyhood learned the shipbuilder's trade, which he followed at intervals through his entire life. He also took charge of his farm at Hope, Knox County, where he died in 1889, at fifty-four years of age. He married Caroline Bowley, who was born in Hope, Me., and died there in 1876. She was a daughter of William Bowley, a native of Maine and of Scotch descent; by occupation a farmer, he spent his entire life upon a farm in Knox County, with the exception of the time when he was at the front in the army during the war of 1812.

Born in Hope, Me., October 21, 1857, Dr. Tay- lor was the eldest of a family of three sons and one daughter, of whom he and his sister were the only ones who attained maturity. He was reared on the home farmn and graduated from the Union high school, at Union, Me., afterward preparing for college in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hall. Choosing the profes-

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sion of medicine for his life work, he became a entered the ministry of the Baptist Church, to which work he gave consecrated and successful service during the remainder of his life. Had his student in the Maine Medical School at Bruns- wick (the medical department of Bowdoin Col- lege), from which he graduated in the spring of - life been spared to maturity of his mental powers, 1880, with the degree of M. D. In December of the same year he came to Pueblo, where he has since carried on a general practice. Since 1890 he has made a specialty of the treatment of the morphine and whisky habit from a medical stand- point, and in this he has been remarkably suc- cessful.

Besides his city interests Dr. Taylor owns a ranch of four hundred and eighty acres near Rye, this county, where he is engaged in raising cat- tle. He has brought into the state some of its best race horses, among them Wilkes, Wichita Tom, Noxy Morrell, Cleopatra, Modestie, Walter Steele and Jennie June; but the horse business has not proved profitable, so he has discontinued it and now gives his attention to farming and raising cattle. In the organization of the Pueblo Driving Park Association he was a prime factor. He is a charter member of the Pueblo County Medical Society. He was made a Mason in South Pueblo Lodge No. 31, at South Pueblo, and was made an Odd Fellow in Ark Lodge No. 28, South Pueblo, in which he has been an officer. He contributes to religious enterprises, particularly to the Baptist Church, of which his wife is a member. He was married in this city to Miss Nancy A. Robinson, who was born in Appleton, Me. They are the parents of four children now living: Laura, Guy, Ray and Cyrus F., Jr.

ILLIAM J. COX. The town of Aspen is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains rich in silver. Among the mines that have been placed on a paying basis, especial mention belongs to the Mollie Gibson mine, owned by the Mollie Gibson Consolidated Mining and Milling Company of which Mr. Cox is the superintendent. There is no mine, as is universally conceded, that has produced silver ore as rich as this. In some instances the ore has shown eighty-two per cent of pure silver. One specimen, weighing three hundred and seventy-eight pounds and con- taining seventy-five per cent of pure silver, was placed on exhibition at the Omaha Exposition in 1898 and attracted wide attention.

Mr. Cox was born in Orange County, N. Y., July 6, 1845, a son of Charles and Jane (Gray) Cox. His father, a native of England, settled in New York in boyhood and in early manhood

he would undoubtedly have attained prominence, but he died in 1848, while still a young man. His wife, who was born near Baltimore, Md., was the daughter of William Gray, an extensive planter in Maryland. She died five years after the death of her husband, when our subject was eight years old, and left, besides him, a daughter, now Mrs. Mary Homan, of New Jersey.

Upon the death of his mother, our subject was taken into the home of his grandfather, Charles Cox, Sr., who was a minister in the Baptist Church in eastern Pennsylvania. With his grand- father he remained until he was sixteen years of age. His education was meantime received in a private academy. In 1866 he came to the western territories, crossing the plains with an ox-team. He did not at the time settle in Colorado, but traveled through Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. In March, 1879, he settled in Lead- ville, where for two years he engaged in mining. From there he went to Rico, where he was simi- larly interested for seven years. The year 1887 found him in Aspen, where he has since been actively engaged in mining. Since 1891 he has been general superintendent of the Mollie Gibson mine, one of the most famous silver mines in the world. In 1891 he opened the Bonanza mine, which he has since developed. He is also con- nected with other mining interests in the state. His office is in the Bank building, Aspen, where he has a fine suite of rooms.

In 1872 Mr. Cox married Miss Johanna M. O'Farrell, daughter of John O'Farrell, who was a banker and civil officer in Ireland. They are the parents of three sons and one daughter: W. Rowland, who was educated in the School of Mines, at Rolla, Mo., as an engineer; John C., who also took a course in engineering, graduating from the Rolla State School of Mines, and is now assayer and chemist for the Mollie Gibson mine; Samuel J., a student in the Jesuit College, Den- ver; and Emily, a student at the Loretto Acad- emy, Denver.

While in Rico Mr. Cox was elected mayor of the city. For a number of years he held the office of school director. While he is not par- tisan in his preferences, he is stanch in his allegi- ance to the Democratic party. A Mason in fra- ternal relations, he is identified with the blue

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lodge, chapter and commandery. He is con- July, 1860. During the summer he prospected, sidered one of the most thorough mining men of this section, and his experience and judgment are relied upon with confidence by those who are connected with mining interests in Aspen.

ON. BENJAMIN F. CROWELL. The his- tory of any state is made up, so far as its most interesting features are concerned, of the events in the lives of its prominent citizens. In any history of Colorado, an outline of the career of Mr. Crowell could not, with justice, be omitted. A pioneer of the state, he was one of the few men who, after a long and active life in a community, are held in the highestesteem by all, irrespective of politics, wealth or other conditions, one who sustained the character of a gentleman, and who, in his declining years, might proudly feel that he had wronged no man, but had en- deavored, by a consistent, upright life, to fulfil his duty to God and his fellowmen.

Mr. Crowell was born at Manchester-by-the- Sea, Mass., January 8, 1835, and in that same place had occurred the birth of preceding genera- tions as far back as the records can be traced. The first representatives of the family in this country came from England in an early day. His father, Capt. Samuel Crowell, was a man of en- ergy, remarkable business ability and upright character. His three brothers were sea captains and took part in the Revolution, while he served in the war of 1812. From the time that he was twenty-one years of age he was master of ocean vessels, and during the forty years of his seafar- ing life he crossed the ocean forty times, but never met with an accident during that entire period. His death occurred in Massachusetts in 1867. He married Miss Susan Allen, member of an old family of New England.

When fifteen years of age our subject went to Boston, where he served an apprenticeship to the bookbinder's trade. At the time of the Pike's Peak gold excitement he fell a victim to the pre- vailing fever. When, in the fall of 1859, the Green Russell party returned from Colorado and told of their discoveries on Cherry Creek, fol- lowed by the opening of the Gregory diggings, he determined to come west. He was acquainted with the Tappan brothers, who were pioneer merchants of Colorado, with stores in Denver and Colorado City. With James Tappan, A. Z. Sheldon and a Mr. Spencer, he journeyed up the Arkansas River, arriving in Colorado City in

but as he was not fortunate, he decided to begin ranching. He homesteaded a piece of land south of Colorado Springs, now known as the Rose ranch. Soon he became one of the leading farm- ers of Fountain Valley. In time he also engaged in sheep-raising extensively.

At the first election after the organization of El Paso County in 1862, Mr. Crowell was elected county commissioner and assisted in perfecting the county organization; but after one term he declined renomination. In 1869 he was elected county treasurer, and two years later was elected to the territorial legislature, where he served for two years. At the expiration of his term he was again elected county treasurer and served until 1879, when he refused further election. He and his lifelong friend, Irving Howbert, had remained in office side by side and both retired about the same time, turning their attention to the banking business, and laying the foundation of what be- came one of the most substantial banks in the state. Of this bank Mr. Crowell was for twenty years a director .and officer. In 1879, at the out- break of the Leadville excitement, he became in- terested in mining, in which he met with success, securing an interest in the Robert A. Lee mine, from which he secured a fortune. He was also successful in Cripple Creek. With others he erected the Colorado Springs opera house, at a cost of $100,000. His health, however, became impaired by his close attention to business, and in 1885, with his sisters, he went to Europe, where he remained for a year, returning greatly benefited by the trip.

When it was decided to erect a capitol building in Denver, the governor appointed Mr. Crowell one of the commissioners having charge of the work. The responsibility was a great one, but he discharged it efficiently. He traveled through- out the country at his own expense, and investi- gated capitol buildings in different states, utiliz- ing the best points of each in his suggestions for the Colorado building. The result is the state has a most magnificent structure, vieing in ele- gance with the New York state capitol, which is said to be the finest in the country. In fact, to him, more than to any other one person, the substantial character of the building is due, and it stands as a monument to his taste for the beat- tiful and artistic as well as his business ability. . He was always a leader in the Republican party, and had he chosen, could have occupied the gov-

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ernor's chair. In 1884 he was a delegate to the convention in Chicago that nominated James G. Blaine, and was also a presidential elector that year. For a time he served as major-general of the state militia. He was one of the representa- tives from Colorado at the celebration in New York of the one hundredth anniversary of the in- auguration of President Washington.

Every enterprise for the benefit of Colorado Springs received the earnest support of Mr. Cro- well. When the county-seat was removed to it he took an active part in its upbuilding, was a member of the town council and acting mayor. One of the fire companies was named in his honor, in recognition of the interest he had ever manifested in the fire department. In 1861 he published the first newspaper in El Paso County, and this he conducted for a year. It was known as the Colorado City Journal and was a weekly paper. In whatever line he turned his activities he met with success. His genius was versatile, as his experiences were wide. He is remembered as an exceedingly genial man, and the life of any company with whom he chanced to be. Full of humor and wit, his sallies always had a bright point to them, and his anecdotes, which were ever appropriate and entertaining, covered as many points as would often be found in a long speech. He never married, but found a pleasant home with his sisters, who ministered with the deepest affection to his comforts. During the last years of his life he spent the summer months at his old home by the seaside, and there, a few days after his death, which occurred June 5, 1897, he was buried by the side of his father and mother, as had been his wish.

OL. HENRY SCHLEY ERVAY. The fam- ily represented by this influential citizen of Colorado Springs has long been identified with the history of America, the first of the name in this country having emigrated from England to Virginia in an early day. Jacob Ervay, the colonel's father, was a native of the Old Domin- ion, and resided for a short time in Elmira, N. Y., thence removed to Tioga County, Pa., where he engaged in farming. His death occurred in 1848 in Cleveland, Ohio, when en route to the west. His wife, Sophia Schley, was born in Maryland, a member of one of the distinguished families of that state and a cousin of the illustrious com- modore who won distinction in the Spanish-Amer- ican war. Her father, Henry Schley, was a soldier

from Maryland in the Revolutionary war; after- ward he removed to Tioga County, Pa., where he died at an advanced age. He had married a Miss Greenleaf, whose family, prominent in the early annals of Maryland, traced its lineage to the no- bility of England. Mrs. Sophia Ervay died in Springfield, Mo., in 1894, at eighty-four years of age. In her family there were four sons and six daughters, of whom all are living except one daughter, Henry Schley heing the third child. Of the four sons, two served in the Federal, and two in the Confederate army. Frank, who was a major in a Pennsylvania regiment and was wounded in the service, is now living in Dallas, Tex .; Charles, who was a member of the Second Texas Infantry, C. S. A., and later served in the hospital department, now resides in Springfield, Mo .; Jacob, who served in a Pennsylvania regi- ment, is now postmaster at Ervay, Wyo., and register of the district.

Though Colonel Ervay was born in Elmira, N. Y. (the date, June 29, 1834), his boyhood years were spent mostly in Tioga and Mercer Counties, Pa., where he attended the public schools. At nineteen years of age he went to Minnesota and British Columbia with a surveying and exploring corps, and remained for a year in their employ. He then went to Red Wing, Minn., and embarked in the real-estate business. Early in the spring of 1858, while the ground was still covered with snow and the rivers were frozen over, he drove a team of Canadian ponies in a sleigh as far south as Dubuque, Iowa, on the Mississippi, and from there proceeded by land to Keokuk. Thence, with team and carriage, he drove to St. Louis and from there to Little Rock, Hot Springs and across the Red River into Texas, reaching that state May 1. On the roth of that month he saw men harvesting wheat. He joined the Texas Rangers and fought the Comanche Indians. La- ter, joining the Butterfield Overland Mail Com- pany, he drove to Fort Davis, in the Pecos Val- ley, and from there to El Paso, thence to Lower California, remaining one year on that trip. In- dians were exceedingly troublesome at the time, and the government was obliged to furnish troops to protect white men. While he was superinten- dent of the stage line he slept with two six-shoot- ers, loaded, by his side. On more than one occa- sion he engaged in fights with the red men, and sometimes, on riding up to a lonely frontier sta- tion, he found all the men dead, the victims of Indian hate and jealousy. While perils were

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many, yet there was much that was interesting and even enjoyable about the life he then led. Being an amateur photographer, he took a num- ber of pictures of the Indians, and some of these he still retains.

After one year Mr. Ervay went to Dallas, Tex. At that time Gen. William Walker was forming a company to assist him in his effort to be reinstated as governor of Nicaragua, and Mr. Ervay joined the company at New Orleans in the spring of 1859. The men were dispatched in small parties and rendezvoused on a small island in the Caribbean Sea. About two hundred suc- ceeded in effecting a landing at Fort Truxillo, Honduras, and just before daybreak divided into squads (one of which Mr. Ervay commanded) ; they made a dash against the fort, routed four hundred men, and for one month held it unmo- lested. The natives meantime did not dare to attack them. In July he discovered a large sail on the gulf and decided it was a man-of-war. It proved to be a British sloop, whose commander, Captain Simons, sent a lieutenant ashore to de- mand Walker's surrender. The latter asked until six o'clock the next morning. As soon as dark- ness fell the men were ordered to pack their things and they started for Mosquito coast. With the exception of a skirmish with the natives they had no trouble, and making their way to Black River crossed in canoes just as night came on. They camped out for the night, with sentinels stationed to warn them if the enemy approached. Early in the morning, a large number of natives (ten times as many as were in Walker's party) rushed out from the bushes, but they were charged by Walker's men, and fell back. While making the charge, Mr. Ervay was wounded alto- gether nine times. His wounds were moistened with cold water, then wrapped with cloths, after which he was loaded on a pack pony, to accom- pany the others on their retreat. Through the intense darkness of the night they traveled con- stantly, and on reaching a village were attacked by the natives from ambush, but these they routed in a half-hour; they then entered the vil- lage and at once proceeded to construct a trans- port to carry the wounded to Roman River. The following morning the British man-of-war again appeared. The same lieutenant, who had before demanded surrender, again came ashore and re- peated the demand, made in the name of Her Majesty, the Queen of England. Walker re- plied that he would surrender to the Queen of

England, but not to Honduras. This answer sat- isfied Captain Simons and he took all of the Wal- ker party on board his ship, caring for the sick and wounded of their number. When the phy- sicians examined Mr. Ervay's wounds, they were so serious that the decision was made to amputate the wounded limb, but to this he so strenuously objected that it was not done. The sloop sailed back to Fort Truxillo, where, in spite of all prom- ises to the contrary, Captain Simons put all the men in prison, and there they remained for twelve days, and they were days of suffering and agony to Mr. Ervay. He lay upon inats on the floor, where by fanning and keeping cold water on his wounded limb he managed to keep alive. Fi- nally the soldiers were notified that the natives intended to shoot General Walker and this threat was soon carried into execution. Three days afterward Captain Hinkley came with a British man-of-war, took all the men on board and sailed for New Orleans.

On reaching that city three days were spent in quarantine, after which the wounded were taken to the hospital, and there Mr. Ervay spent the en- tire winter. In the spring, with the aid of crutches, he was able to walk once more. He went to Galveston, Tex., but for two months lay ill with the fever there, being cared for, mean- time, by a friend. On recovering sufficiently to travel he made his way, on horseback, to Dallas, Tex., and arriving there, a friend, who was a large planter, miller and merchant, gave him em- ployment in a store at Trinity Mills, sixteen miles from the city. Later he secured a position that paid him $35 a month, and in the spring of 1861 he bought an interest in the business. His part- ners, W. H. Witt & Son, enlisted in the Confed- erate army and he was left in charge of the store, mill and plantation, and also served as postmaster of the little village. In the spring of 1862 he married and in the fall of the same year Captain Witt returned, soon afterward selling out the business.

In the fall of 1863 Mr. Ervay enlisted in the Confederate service and was made assistant quar- termaster, with the rank of colonel, by which title he has since been known. He remained at the front, in charge of supplies, until the close of the war, when he returned to Dallas and em- barked in the real-estate and live-stock business. For two years he served as an alderman, after which, in 1870, he was elected mayor of Dallas, serving two terms, and then filled tlie office of

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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 14

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