Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 144

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 144

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The father of our subject, Hon. G. W. Henry, was born in Ohio, and removed from there to Clay County, Ill., of which locality he became a representative citizen and influential attorney. He engaged in professional work there until 1872, when he was elected to represent the forty-fourth senatorial district of Illinois in the state senate, a position that he filled with ability, making an excellent record as an official. In 1877 he re- moved to Colorado and settled at Lake City, where he engaged in the practice of law and in mining. From 1879 to 1884 he held the office of judge of Hinsdale County. Since 1887 he has made his home in Delta, this state, where he prac- tices law. By his marriage to Rebecca A. Mag- ner he had four children, but only two are living, Lyman I. and William G.

In Clay County, Ill., where he was born in 1860, the subject of this article received a public- school education. At seventeen years of age he accompanied his father to Colorado, where for three years he engaged in freighting on his own account. He attended school in Lake City for three months, and in 1880 returned to Illinois, where for two years he was a student in Eureka College. In 1882 he entered Colorado College at Colorado Springs, and with the year spent in that institution his college days ended. Afterward he studied law in Lake City under his father's supervision. At the same time he edited the Silver World, of which H. C. Olney was pro-

prietor. After his admission to the Colorado bar, in 1884, he did not at once engage in practice, but for a year held the position of principal of the Lake City school. In the spring of 1885 he began to practice, in connection with his father. In the fall of 1886 he removed to Delta, Delta County, where he carried on a general practice until the spring of 1890, and then, coming to Ouray, entered into a law patnership with E. I. Stirman, but the partnership was dissolved in the fall of 1891. From that time until 1895 he served as city attorney of Ouray. In 1894 he was elected district attorney of the seventh judicial district on the Populist ticket, and served with recog- nized ability. In the fall of 1898 he was the Populist candidate for district judge, but was defeated. He has been fearless in advocating any cause in which he believes. Having been a Re- publican, he differed with that party on the money question and left it. He is especially diligent and earnest in anything undertaken by him, and for this reason defeat or victory does not influence him either in friendships or political party. Since the spring of 1895 he has been in partnership with Carl J. Sigfrid. In addition to his law practice he is interested in mining at Ouray. By his marriage, in 1888, to Ermine Huston, he has two children, Helen and Hardin.

AMES B. GASTON, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of the medical profession at Cripple Creek, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 26, 1851, and at three years of age was taken by his parents to Illinois. The years of his boyhood and youth were quietly passed on farms in Woodford and McLean Counties, that state. He was educated in local schools and the State Normal School near Bloomington. On the com- pletion of his education he began to teach school, going to Minnesota, where he followed that occu- pation for seven years. During a part of this time, in 1877 and 1878, he was employed in a drug store at Redwood Falls, Minn. Afterward, for three years, he was employed as fireman or as engineer on the Mauitoba & Northern Pacific road.

With the intention of entering the medical pro- fession, our subject applied his earnings to the study of medicine. He went to Chicago and en- tered that famous institution, Rush Medical Col- lege, where he took the regular course of lectures, graduating in 1888. After his graduation he went to the lumber and iron region on Lake Su-

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perior, in Michigan, and there began the practice of his profession, continning in the same locality and building up an extensive practice. From there, in January, 1896, he came to Colorado, settling in Cripple Creek, his present location.

In 1876 Dr. Gaston married Miss Ella Cook, of St. Paul, Minn. She was the first white child born at the Little Sioux agency, where her parents were teachers. Educated in Minnesota, and trained under the careful supervision of her parents, she acquired a breadth of knowledge that makes her a cultured woman, fitted to adorn the domestic circle or society.

Ever since he was a child, and heard older people conversing with regard to the war and President Lincoln's attitude concerning slavery, Dr. Gaston has been a strong Republican. In the fall of 1898 he was his party's candidate for the legislature and made an excellent showing at the polls, running ahead of his ticket in every precinct in the district, a fact that showed his personal strength. He is a member of the Crip- ple Creek District Medical Society and the Ameri- can Medical Association and takes a warm in- terest in everything pertaining to the profession in which he is so deeply interested. Fraternally he became a member of the Cleveland Lodge No. 211, A. F. & A. M., while in Chicago, and he is also identified with the Improved Order of Red Men.

M ATT BERTSCH, who is engaged in the grocery business at No. 306 South Second street, Victor, was born in Baden, Ger- many, in 1866, and was a youth of seventeen years when he crossed the Atlantic to America. Proceeding direct to Colorado he settled in Las Animas County when it had but few inhabitants. For a few years he was employed on a ranch there. Later he clerked in a store in Berwind for a short time, and then started a butcher shop two miles west of Trinidad, making a success of this venture.

March, 1894, found Mr. Bertsch in the new town of Victor. There was apparently little to encourage anyone to settle here. A few houses stood on the main street, but no attempt had been made to improve a town. He was fortunate in being among the first to settle here, for he was able to purchase a lot at small cost and upon it he built the store he now owns. The strike that soo11 followed placed him in a peculiar position, but, undaunted, he continued in business. He

showed good judgment in locating, and as the town soon took on new life he had the advantage of being among the first on the field. He has built up a good business and has a large trade among the people. It has been his rule from the first to buy nothing that he cannot pay for at once, and so there has been little or no risk in his business transactions. Besides his store he owns three ranches, all in Las Animas County, and bearing valuable improvements.

A member of the Democratic party and active in local affairs, Mr. Bertsch was, in the spring of 1897, elected an alderman, without seeking the nomination; he was the first Democrat elected to the council, and has given excellent satisfaction in this position. One of the most important works was getting the sewer system established. Other enterprises have received his active sup- port. He was re-elected alderman in the spring of 1899. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Uniform Rank, and is also identified with the Elks and the German-Ameri- can and Merchants' Protective Associations.

ILLIAM EDWARDS came to Eagle County in 1882 and took up a tract of land in the west-central part of the county. Upon this land he laid out the village of Eagle, the town site of which he sold to B. Clark Wheeler, of Aspen, by whom it was afterward sold to A. M. McDonald, owner of the Allen mine.

The Edwards family originated in Wales. From that country M. M. Edwards emigrated to America and settled in Ohio, where he afterward resided. His son, William, was born in Ohio and there engaged in the practice of law for years, but finally moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where he built up a valuable practice and also became a prominent Mason. When he died in 1880 he was fifty-two years of age. During the Civil war he served as captain of a company of Iowa infantry. His wife was Isadore Florence Hime, of Ohio, daughter of a captain on the Ohio and Mississippi River steamboats.

The only child of his parents, our subject was in youth given excellent advantages. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was quite young when the family settled in Keokuk, Iowa. He attended public schools and the State University of Iowa, where his education was completed. In 1876, at nineteen years of age, he came to Colo- rado and settled in Park County, where he en- gaged in the stock business until 1882. Since

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then his home has been in Eagle County, where he owns a number of mines and is also interested in raising stock and ranching on Eagle Creek.

The political views of Mr. Edwards bring him into affiliation with the Populist party, of which party he is a stanch adherent. However, he has never taken an active part in public affairs nor has he desired to hold official positions. He is comfortably situated financially, and is numbered among the prosperous ranchmen of the county.

M EVER B. HAAS, who has resided in Min- turn since 1886 and is the owner of con- siderable property in Eagle County, was born in Holland in 1834, a son of Benjamin Philip and Christine Haas, who spent their en- tire lives in Holland, the former being engaged in business there. They were the parents of eight- een children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one in Colorado. He was only seven years of age when, in the early part of 1842, he left his native land and took passage on a sailing vessel, which landed him in New York after a tedious voyage. From a very early age he has made his own way in the world, and while this prevented him from obtaining an education, it developed in him self-reliance and determination, qualities that assisted him in his business life.

Drifting west to Detroit, Mich., Mr. Haas was employed there for a few years. In 1853 he left that city and went to Chicago, where he remained for a short time. His next removal took him to Leavenworth, Kan., from which state, in 1858, he came to Colorado, settling in Denver, then a small town of tents, giving little indication of its future commercial importance. For three years he carried on a store, after which he returned to Kansas and spent several years in Leavenworth. Under Andrew Johnson he was appointed post- master of Fort Leavenworth, which position he held for some time, and in 1866 was appointed postmaster in Fort Leavenworth. In his pos- session he has a passport, signed by William H. Seward, in 1863.

The business experiences of Mr. Haas in Kan- sas were less fortunate than those in Colorado. He lost $40,000 in Leavenworth, and was a poor man when he returned to Colorado in 1878. Set- tling in Leadville, he engaged in mining there and is still the owner of valuable mining interests in that place. For four years he held the office of city jailer in Leadville. He remained in that town until 1886, when he removed to Minturn,

and has since acquired considerable property in this section of the state. Since the organization of the Republican party he has always voted for its principles and supported its candidates. He is connected with various degrees of Masonry, as well as the Knights of Pythias. In Leavenworth, January 27, 1864, he married Miss Louisa Segre, who died, leaving two daughters: Matilda, now the wife of Curt C. Darrow, an attorney of Butte, Mont .; and Charlotte, wife C. A. Ward, who is engaged in the restaurant business in Chicago. The present wife of Mr. Haas was formerly Lil- lian S. Van Hook, and was born in Kentucky, member of a southern family that originally re- sided in Holland.

OHN FRANKLIN FLEMING. An influen- tial position among the business men of Red Cliff is held by Mr. Fleming, who is one of the successful merchants of the town. In spite of the fact that he came here with only a few dollars, he has built up a business that is worth thousands. He brings to the details of his busi- ness a thorough experience, united with pride in the quality of goods kept at his stores, and the consequence is that he has built up an excellent trade in Eagle County.

The paternal grandfather of our subject, Timo- thy Fleming, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was taken prisoner by the British at Quebec. The maternal grandfather, John W. Saviers, was a farmer and a member of a pioneer family of Ohio. He had a son, George W. Saviers, who was for years a leader of the Democracy in Col- umbus, Ohio. Our subject's father, Benjamin Franklin Fleming, was born in Tippecanoe, Ohio, and in early life engaged in the shoe business, but afterward turned his attention to farming and merchandising. He continues to reside in Ohio. In early manhood he voted the Democratic ticket, but during the past twenty years has been allied with the Prohibitionists. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By his marriage to Elizabeth Saviers he had six children: John Franklin; George M., a business man of Mount Vernon, Ohio; Nannie E., Mrs. Henry Bayless, of Ross County, Ohio; Maggie T., wife of George Allshouse, a fruit dealer in Ross County, Ohio; Emma, Mrs. George Bayfield, of Ohio; and Eugenia, wife of W. F. Johnston, of Cumberland, Ohio.

The early years of our subject's life were passed in Cambridge, Ohio, where he attended

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the public schools. At eighteen years of age he started out for himself. In 1882 he came to Colo- rado, without money or friends. For a time he worked on a Democratic paper in Leadville, and later was assistant cashier in the dry-goods house owned by Joel W. Smith. He came to Red Cliff in 1885, and started a grocery and men's furnish- ing business, in partnership with E. M. Borg, with whom he continued until February, 1886, and then purchased his partner's interest. Soon afterward he formed a partnership with W. H. Evans, president of the Leadville Hardware Company, with which organization he is also connected, owning one-quarter of the capital stock, and which he assisted in starting. He is now the owner of one-half interest in two stores in Red Cliff, one being a grocery, and the other a hardware and general store. He also assisted in starting a bank in Red Cliff, but the venture did not prove a success. In national politics he has always favored the Democratic party, but in local affairs votes for the man whom he deems best qualified to represent the people. Twice he has been elected mayor of Red Cliff, whose in- terests he has assisted materially.

In 1891 Mr. Fleming married Anna McLeod, of Quebec, Canada, daughter of John C. Mc- Leod, who owned a farm near Quebec and as- sisted in building the first railroad to that city. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming have three children, Burnis, Edna and Pearl.

AT T. BEALL, register of the United States land office at Leadville, was born in Greene County, Ohio, in 1846, a son of William T. and Isabella (Alexander) Beall, na- tives respectively of Cumberland, Md., and Xenia, Ohio. His mother was a descendant of natives of Belfast, Ireland, who emigrated to America prior to the Revolutionary war and set- tled in Georgia, but afterward removed to South Carolina. She had an uncle who fought in the colonial army and was killed in the battle of Cow- pens, in South Carolina. Her father, Hon. John Alexander, was a successful lawyer, and for many years practiced in Greene County, Ohio; active in public affairs, he served for one term as a member of congress.

John Brook Beall, son of Thomas Beall, mar- ried a daughter of Capt. William Beatty, who en- listed in the Revolutionary service in December, 1776, as lieutenant of the Seventh Regiment, as shown by the records in the land office of Mary-

land. The same records show that Thomas Beall enlisted on the 25th of July, 1776, in Raw- lings Regiment and served as second lieutenant, and was afterward promoted to captain. In civil life he was known as Thomas Beall, of Samuel, the affix being his father's Christian name. In 1784 he removed to Fort Cumberland from one of the lower counties, perhaps Montgomery. He became proprietor of two tracts of land, "Walnut Bottom" and "The Brothers," and in 1785 com- menced the town that is now the city of Cumber- land. Upon his petition the legislature, in 1787, appointed five commissioners to lay off the town of Cumberland, and afterward the old name of Fort Cumberland was dropped. His land was laid off in town lots and sold rapidly, the records showing that from 1790 to his death in 1823, there were four hundred and eighteen convey- ances, besides such deeds as were made while Al- legany was a part of Washington County. In 1776 he was a member of the constitutional con- vention, and in 1791, 1792 and 1793 was elected to the legislature. He died when about eighty years of age, leaving eight children: John Brook (our subject's grandfather) Beall, Josiah, Isaac, Lucky, Eleanor, Lizzie, Mary and Priscilla.

The founder of the Beall family in America was Ninean Beall, who, it is said, settled in the province of Maryland in 1664. The records of the orphans' court of Prince George's County show that his will was probated in 1717, and it is probable that he was a wealthy man for that day. He left three sons, George, Ninean and Charles, and two daughters. George settled at what later became Georgetown, upon a tract of land called "Rock of Dunburton." There is an uncertain tradition that Georgetown was named in his honor. Samuel Beall, father of Thomas Beall of S., died in Washington County in 1778, and left a will, which was probated January 10, 1778; he had a large family, fourteen or fifteen children. The family is of Scotch lineage, and it is said that Ninean Beall came from the highlands of Scotland.

The subject of this sketch had three brothers and six sisters. All of the brothers served in the Civil war. John A. was a lieutenant in the Ninety-fourth Ohio Infantry; George W., a lieu- tenant in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Ohio Infantry, and E. C., a sergeant in the One Hun- dred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, and later sheriff of Greene County, Ohio. In 1864 our subject enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth

Seath Cechton

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Ohio Infantry, but was mustered out in Septem- ber of the same year. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but gave his attention prin- cipally to farming until 1879. He then came to Leadville, where he engaged in mining for four years, and then returning east, spent a few years on a farm. In 1890 he came back to Leadville and in 1897 was appointed to his present office, which he fills with efficiency. Politically he is a pronounced Republican.

COTT ASHTON, attorney-at-law, of Victor, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, February 17, 1853, a son of Joseph and Lizzie (Whitford) Ashton, and a great-grandson of a Revolutionary officer. His boyhood days were principally spent in Leavenworth, Kan., and his education was re- ceived in Notre Dame University, Indiana. Upon the completion of his literary studies he began to read law in St. Louis, where he attended a law school and was admitted to the bar upon attaining his majority. Returning to Leaven- worth, he opened an office in that city and en- gaged in a general practice there.

Coming to Colorado in 1879, Mr. Ashton settled in Leadville, where he formed a partnership with Pendery, Goddard & Taylor (Judge Goddard now a judge of the supreme court of Colorado), and afterward he was connected with J. W. Taylor, now of Denver. During his practice in that city he was connected with many important cases bearing upon mining law, as well as a number of commercial cases, both in Leadville and Aspen.

From 1888 to 1894 Mr. Ashton engaged in practice in Kansas City. In the latter year he settled in Cripple Creek, thence came to Victor. In April, 1895, he was made town attorney of Victor, since which time he has resided here. He was also employed as attorney for James Doyle and for many of the prominent mining companies. In mines at Victor, Leadville, As- pen and Caribou, Boulder County, he is largely interested, and has done much towards the development of mining interests, while at the same time he has been interested in most of the heavy mining litigations in Victor.

The Democratic party receives the allegiance of Mr. Ashton, and he has been active in politics in the various places where he has resided. While in Leadville he filled the office of district attorney, and twice since coming to Victor he has been elected city attorney, but resigned during his second term. While in Leavenworth, Kan.,

when twenty-two years of age, he represented Judge Goddard as deputy county attorney. In March, 1880, he married Addie Smithers, of Kansas, by whom he has three sons and one daughter.

ENO FELDER, who is engaged in the drug business in Lake City, and is one of the pro- gressive men of the town, was born in Madison County, Ill., in 1852, a son of Dr. Abraham and Catherine Felder. His father, who was a native of Switzerland, received excellent advantages in youth and was a student in some of the most prominent medical universities of the old world, among them the Heidelberg Univer- sity. When about thirty years of age he came to America and for a year engaged in professional practice at New Orleans, thence removed to Highland, Ill. There he built up an extensive practice, and continued to make his home until his death, in 1888. He was a man of upright character and large influence, and took an act- ive part in local affairs. For twenty years he served as a member of the board of education, during which time he did much to promote the interests of the schools of his town.

When a boy our subject selected pharmacy for his life occupation. With this profession in view he entered the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and there carried on the regular studies of the college. After completing his studies he engaged in business in St. Louis. From there he came to Lake City in 1882, and has since built up a good trade in his chosen line, having a store that is neatly arranged and well equipped with a full line of drugs, etc. In 1894 he married Ida O'Bryan, who was born in Illinois, but at the time of their marriage was living in Cripple Creek.

ON. GEORGE PEARCE. No citizen of Cripple Creek is better known among his fellow-townsmen than Mr. Pearce. In local affairs he is deeply interested and justly promi- nent, as was evident by his election to the mayor's chair, April 6, 1897. He made an excellent record in his office and is known for his champion- ship of measures having for their object the bene- fit of the people of the town. For some years he has been interested in the drug business, and in May, 1898, accepted the management of the Central Drug Company, whose store he has since conducted.

Upon a farm in Madison County, Ill., our sub-

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ject was born May 23, 1865, a son of M. B. and Martha (Keown) Pearce. He received a country- school education. At sixteen years of age he became an employe in a drug store at Alhambra, where he obtained his rudimentary knowledge of the drug business. In a short time he became a student in the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, where he took the complete course, graduating in March, 1888. Afterward he clerked in a drug store at Staunton, Ill., for a few months. In August of the same year he came west, settling at Cheyenne, Wyo., where he secured a clerk- ship in the business with which he was most familiar. February, 1894, witnessed his arrival in Cripple Creek, where he has since made his home and engaged in the drug business, either as clerk or proprietor. The business which he first bought he disposed of in January, 1896, and afterward clerked for eighteen months; then, in September, 1897, resumed business for himself, and since May of 1898 has managed the store owned by the Central Drug Company.

As a Democrat, Mr. Pearce has taken a promi- nent and active part in local politics, and it was upon the Democratic ticket that he was elected mayor. Fraternally he is a member of Cripple Creek Lodge No. 96, A. F. & A. M., and a charter member and exalted ruler of the local lodge of Elks.

AMUEL D. NICHOLSON, former mayor of Leadville, is one of the prominent mine owners and operators of Colorado. He is manager and part owner of the Mab mine, which has a shaft now more than one thousand feet deep and turns out large quantities of rich ore. In addition he is interested in what are known as the Down Town mines of Leadville, and is presi- dent, manager and owner of an interest in the Ute and Ulay mines at Lake City and the Colum- bia and Monona Milling Company, of Savage Basin.

The Nicholsou family is of Scotch descent. D. M. Nicholson, our subject's father, was born in Scotland and in early life emigrated to Prince Edward Island, Canada, where he bought land and improved a farm. He is still living on the old homestead, though now to a large extent retired from active labors. For many years he has been an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He married Catherine Mckinsey, daughter of John K. Mckinsey, who emigrated from Scotland to Prince Edward Island, where she was born.

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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 144

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