Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 15

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 15

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

alderman for seven years. After a time in the drug business he entered the wholesale imple- ment trade and built a large house, 50x200, in which he carried machinery of every description. His sales were not limited to Dallas, but were made throughout the entire state, and the busi- ness was one of the largest of the kind in the state. In 1891 his building was burned down, but he immediately rebuilt. However, since 1888 he has not been interested in the business, though he still retains the property, as well as other city holdings.

Coming to Colorado Springs in 1888 Colonel Ervay purchased seventy-two acres and platted Ervay's addition to the city, also assisted in build- ing the boulevard. In addition to the real-estate business he has been interested in mining, and is now president of the Bob Lee Mining Com- pany in the Cripple Creek district. For four years, and until all claims were patented, he served as president of the Cripple Creek Consoli- dated Mining Company, which he assisted in or- ganizing. He is still interested in this company, as vice-president and a director. He aided in the organization of the Provident Gold Mining Com- pany and was its president until the twelve claims had been patented, since which time he has con- tinued as a director. Formerly he held the posi - tion of president of the Long Lead Gold Mining Company, in which he still retains an interest. Besides his other interests, he owns property in the oil regions of Wyoming, he and his brothers having more than ten thousand acres there. He built a commodious and comfortable home at No. 116 East Boulder street, and has other valuable property in Colorado Springs.

Politically Colonel Ervay is a Democrat, and takes an active interest in public affairs. While in Texas lie was made a Mason and took the Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees; he is now identified with El Jebel Temple, N. M. S., in Denver. In religious connections he is a mem- ber of the Christian Church, and socially belongs to El Paso Club.

Mrs. Ervay, who was Louise Hickman, daugh- ter of James Hickman, was born in Danville, Ky. Her father, who was a planter there in early manhood, afterward removed to Dallas, Tex., where he died. Her grandfather, Capt. James L. Hickman, was born in Culpeper, Va., and during the Revolution was captain of a company under Washington, while a brother of Captain Hickman was a general in the army. Afterward

he removed to Kentucky, where he was a plan- ter. His mother was a daughter of David Lewis, a Revolutionary hero. His wife was Elizabeth Bryan, daughter of William Bryan, of Culpeper, Va. The mother of Mrs. Ervay was Mary Bro- naugh, a native of Danville, Ky., and a daughter of William and Jennie (Tinsley) Bronaugh. He was born in Virginia and became a planter in Kentucky. The family descended from French- Huguenot refugees, who were exiles from their native land owing to religious persecution. A brother of Mrs. Mary Hickman, Thomas Bro- naugh, was a captain in the war of 1812 and was held a prisoner in Quebec for a time. Mrs. Ervay was educated in Missouri and is a lady of refined character and charming manner. In various charitable organizations she assists actively, be- ing deeply interested in philanthropic projects. In the three orders, Eastern Star, Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Confederacy, she holds active membership. Col- onel and Mrs. Ervay are the parents of two chil- dren. Their daughter, Maude M., was graduated from Wolfe Hall, in Denver, and resides with her parents. Their son, Henry Schley, Jr., is a stu- dent in the Virginia Military Institute, class of 1899; during the war with Spain he volunteered for service, but the quota being filled, his company was not called into action.

ON. HARRY H. SELDOMRIDGE. The services which in the past Mr. Seldomridge has rendered his fellow-citizens and which he is now rendering the people of the third senatorial district (comprising El Paso and Douglas Counties) in the state senate, entitle him to rank among the influential and most prominent men of this part of the state. In the fall of 1896 he was nominated for the senate on the Democratic ticket, endorsed by the Silver Republican, Populist and National Silver parties, and was elected by eleven thousand majority, which was the largest majority received by any state senator elected that year. In the session of 1897 he voted for H. M. Teller for the United States senate. His work upon the executive committee of the State Democratic Central Com- mittee has been of the highest value and has contributed to the success of the party in the state. In 1896 he was elected to represent the Second Congressional district of Colorado in the national Democratic convention at Chicago, where he was a member of the committee on

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rules, and gave his support to Bryan. He has attended every Democratic state convention since 1885 and has been influential in their councils. He has also served as chairman of the county central committee, and in other ways lias con- tributed to the success of his party.

In Philadelphia, where he was born October 1, 1864, our subject attended the public schools. In 1878 he came to Colorado Springs, and at once entered Colorado College, from which he graduated in 1885. For fifteen months he worked on his father's ranch in Bent County. In 1886 he accepted a position as city editor of the Daily Gazette, continuing for eighteen months, and then resigning to enter the firm of J. F. Seldomridge & Sons, with his father and brother. After his father's death the firm name was changed to Seldomridge Brothers. They are wholesale and retail dealers in flour, feed and grain, and own two large warehouses on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, having a very large trade.

In addition to this business, Mr. Seldomridge is interested in mining in Cripple Creek and lo- cated one of the first claims there. He also has interests in New Mexico and Arizona. He owns one-half interest in the Manitou Red Sandstone Quarry Company, owners of the quarry at Mani- tou. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian Church. For years he held the office of Sunday-school superintendent. His mar- riage, which took place in Colorado Springs, united him with Miss Irene Barnes, who was born in Wisconsin, daughter of G. S. Barnes, of the firm of G. S. Barnes & Son, in Colorado Springs.

ON. CASIMIRO BARELA. There are few men in Colorado who are more widely or favorably known than Senator Barela. An article recently published in the Mecca says of him that "While Mr. Barela is purely of Spanish- Mexican blood, he is just as surely a stanch American, both in sentiment and action; which characteristics, it may be remarked in passing, he claims are shared by President Diaz of the republic to the south of us, who at heart has the fullest sympathy for, co-operative relations between his republic and ours."

In many respects the senator is a most remark- able man, not only from a political standpoint, but also in appearance and temperament. He possesses a most unusual combination of traits of character, which, with his vast experience

through many years of active contact with the world, have rendered him a power, and little short of an adept as a delineator of character; and he turns his experience to the strictest account, for who can forget one of those characteristic scrutinizing glances from his eagle eyes; while, if seeking what does not meet his approval, one is made to wince, if not retire entirely; for in per- ception and sensibility he is clear and forcible, and yet at heart he has a nature as gentle, kindly and responsive as a woman. His sense of dis- crimination between right and wrong is especially acute, all of which is evinced by the abiding good- will of the people whom he has represented so long and so ably. He is neat in dress and appear- ance, polite in manner, polished in speech, and though quick almost to impulsiveness, is ever guarded and careful, weighing every word, being choice in his enunciation to the minutest degree, and using good English. In addressing the sen- ate, he is eloquent, logical and convincing, clear in argument and a recognized power in that body.

Mr. Barela has been a member of the state senate of Colorado for twenty-eight years, an honor which no other man can claim, either in this state or in the entire country. He has assisted to organize more than two-thirds of all the counties in the state. In 1875 he was a member of the constitutional convention, three members of which afterward served as judges on the supreme bench. In 1870 he was appointed assessor of Las Animas County; from 1871 to 1874 he represented his county as a member of the territorial legislature. When Colorado was admitted as a state he was elected to the senate of the first assembly for the long term, and was re-elected in 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892 and in 1896, his present term expiring in 1900. He was a delegate-at-large to the national Democratic con- vention in Cincinnati in 1880, also to the St. Louis convention in 1888, and was a member of the committee which notified Grover Cleveland and Senator Thurman of their nomination for the presidency and vice-presidency. He was elected sheriff of Las Animas County, which office he held for two years, at the same time he served as county treasurer. Later he was elected county judge for a term of three years, but he resigned after serving for one year. In 1884 he was presi- dential elector on the Democratic ticket. By unanimous vote, in 1894, he was elected president . pro tem of the Colorado senate, being the only Spanish-American out of thirty-five in the senate;

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and he was elected unanimously by the three parties, a thing which never occurred in Colorado before or since, up to this writing. During his term of service he saved to the state nearly $200,000 by refusing to sign ill-advised measures providing for certain appropriations which, if he had favored, would probably have received the signature of the governor. Owing to the stand he took, he was urged strenuously to resign, but this he bluntly refused to do, and won the day in consequence of his familiarity with the constitu- tion he had helped to frame.

While not inconsistent with the support of capital when it worked for the public good, the senator may rightly be said to be a friend of labor and the producer, and ever has guarded such interests, and favored just and wholesome laws bearing upon questions of public economy. In the last session, in the absence of the presi- dent of the senate, he frequently occupied the chair, and ruled with grace and dignity. It is con- ceded that he is one of the best parliamentarians in the state. Politically he exercises a potential influence in the ranks of his party in Colorado, and especially is he strong in his own county and among the people who know him so well. At times when the Republicans carry the county, he is never defeated, being often the only Democrat elected on the ticket.

In addition to the above record of work, he was one of the committee, with Governor Pitkin, which met, escorted and banqueted at Trinidad, General Grant, at the time of the latter's historic visit to Mexico in behalf of reciprocity, this being the only visit the general ever made to Colorado, and just after his tour around the world. For six years he has been consul for Mexico in Colo- rado and for two years consul for Costa Rica. He is a director in the Trinidad & San Luis Valley Railroad and also in the American Savings Bank of Trinidad.

Senator Barela was born at Embudo, N. M., March 4, 1847, being the son of Jose M. Barela and Maria Abeyta, his wife, descendants of a long line of Spanish ancestry. He was educated at Mora, N. M., under the personal supervision of Archbishop J. B. Salpointe. In 1867 he re- moved with his father and family to Colorado, and settled in the San Francisco Valley upon the property he now owns. His ranch, one of the finest and most extensive stock ranches in Colo- rado, is situated twenty miles from Trinidad, and has a postoffice and a railroad station on the

Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf, named Barela in his honor. On the twentieth anniversary of his birth he was married to Miss Josefita Ortiz, daughter of Don Fernandes Ortiz and Dona Salome Garcia, at Las Vegas, N. M. Born of this union are three daughters now living: Leonora, wife of Eugenio Garcia; Juanita, wife of Juan C. Martinez; and Sophia, wife of E. Chacon; the first and last-named residents of Las Animas County, and Mrs. Martinez, of Folsom, N. M. The mother of these daughters died October 7, 1883. The present wife of the senator was Miss Damiana Rivera, daughter of Don Miguel and Paulita Rivera, and they reside five miles below Trinidad.

As a public official, Senator Barela has been consistent, always identifying himself with any progressive movement for the advancement of the interests of the community or the state. Through- out his career, covering a period of more than a quarter of a century in the public service, he has maintained a reputation for integrity and sound judgment that proves him to be a man of ability.

HEODORE P. AIRHEART. From the early days in the history of Cripple Creek Mr. Airheart has been intimately associated with the development of its mining and property interests, and, while he has met with his share of reverses (mainly on account of the great fire here) he has on the whole been very successful. He is one of the leading property owners of Crip- ple Creek, where at one time he was the largest tax-payer in the district. Among his holdings are one-fourth interest in the Masonic block, as well as the ownership of a large block bearing his name and many business houses and dwel- lings.

In Cleveland, Bradley County, Tenn., Mr. Airheart was born October 15, 1843. His father, John M., a native of the same county, removed to Newton County, Mo., in 1851, and there en- gaged in farming. His last years were spent in Cooke County, Tex., where he settled in 1866 and where his death occurred at seventy-two years. In religion he was a very active Method- ist. His wife, who was Pauline Howard, was born in Bradley County, Tenn., in 1817, and is now living in Cooke County, at eighty-one years of age. She, too, has been an earnest worker in the Methodist Church. Of her six children, William L. is a farmer in Young County, Tex .; James was a private in Company E, Third Regi-

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ment of Shelby's Brigade, in the Confederate army, and was killed near Little Rock, Ark .; our subject was third in order of birth; Henry R. is a farmer in Cooke County, Tex .; Mollie C. married William Grundy and died in 1883; and Fannie is the wife of Lafayette Jones, of Cooke County, Tex.

When seven years of age our subject was taken to Missouri, and there his boyhood days were passed on a farın. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Third Regiment of Shelby's Bri- gade, and served as a private in the Confederate army until the close of the war. He was by the side of his brother when the latter was shot off his horse. He was wounded below the right knee at Newtonia, Mo. While participating in the Price raid, from Arkansas to Jefferson City, Mo., two horses were killed as he rode upon them, and he himself narrowly escaped death or captivity more than once.

Settling in Gainesville, Tex., at the close of the war, Mr. Airheart served as deputy sheriff of Cooke County for one year, after which he spent a year in Professor Smith's private college. Later for four years he clerked in a mercantile store in Gainesville, after which for two years he engaged in freighting from Gainesville to Jeffer- son, Tex. His next venture was the purchase of the Eagle Hotel at Gainesville. After a year he organized a stock company and built the Western hotel in the same place, this being one of the largest hotels in that city. This house he managed for a year and then sold his interest in the property, after which he turned his attention to the buying, feeding and shipping of cattle. In 1878 he came to Colorado, intending to engage in the cattle business, but was seized with the gold fever, and went to Leadville, where he became interested in mining and also for four years car- ried on a grocery. Going to Aspen in 1882, he built the North Texas Smelter, and when he sold it, in 1883, he went to Mexico, and for five years engaged in mining there with an English com- pany. In 1886 he closed a transaction involving $250,000, in the City of Mexico. After five years in Mexico his health failed, and he resigned as manager of mining property there.

Believing that a change would benefit his health, Mr. Airheart spent a week in El Paso, Tex., six weeks in Hudson Hot Springs, two weeks in San Francisco, and two months in Port- land, Ore., and Tacoma, Wash. As soon as he had recovered sufficiently to resume business, he

engaged in the real-estate business and ranching at North Yakima, Wash., where he remained for three years. Returning to Denver, Colo., in the winter of 1891-92, he proceeded at once to Cripple Creek upon hearing of the great gold camp here. January 27, 1892, he reached the new mining district, and February 1 invested $10,000 in property when it was cheap. He now owns two patented claims on Beacon Hill, near the Prince Albert mine, and is interested in other claims. He has recently organized the Rocky Mountain Gold Mining and Milling Company, with a capital stock of $1,500,000, divided into the same number of shares, with a par value of $1. The properties are located in the Cripple Creek district, containing forty-two and one-half acres of patented ground, besides other claims unpat- ented.

By the marriage of Mr. Airheart to Miss Duckie Bonnar, of Texas, two sons were born. John Stelle Airheart is corporal of Company E, First Colorado Infantry, at Manila, where his familiarity with the Spanish language led to his selection as interpreter. After the battle of Ma- nila he took charge of the stables there, and has since had the oversight of the purchase of horses, carriages, etc., having from seventy-five to one hundred men under him. The younger son, Ralph A., formerly a student in Georgetown University, is now in Gainesville, Tex. Mr. and Mrs. Airheart are members of the Methodist Church, in which he is president of the board of trustees. Politically he is a stanch Democrat, and in fraternal relations belongs to Mount Pisgah Lodge No. 96, A. F. & A. M.

ON. ALBINUS Z. SHELDON. Since the early days of Colorado Mr. Sheldon has been

- closely identified with its history. When, in 1860, he arrived in Colorado City, it was a vil- lage containing a few cabins built of logs, but destitute of frame or brick houses. With all the transformation wrought in the years that have since passed by he has been intimately connected. In 1887-88 he built a large stone residence on Colorado avenue and has since made this house his home. It is surrounded by ten acres of well- kept lawn, constituting a small island just out- side of Colorado City and Colorado Springs.

The Sheldon family was first represented in this country about 1630. Noah Sheldon, of Mas- sachusetts, grandfather of our subject, was a sol- dier in the war of 1812. Rev. Chester Sheldon,

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the father, was born in Southampton, Mass., and devoted his life principally to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he labored without expectation of pecuniary reward. He died in Massachusetts when eighty-six years of age. His wife, Charlotte, was born in Massa- chusetts and died there at sixty-eight years of age. She was a daughter of Joel Moore, a farmer of Massachusetts, and her mother was a sister of Captain Bosworth, who was a well-known cap- tain in the Revolutionary war. Our subject was one of five children, of whom four grew to ma- ture years, namely: Mrs. E. A. Thayer, of Mas- sachusetts; A. Z .; L. L., of Ontario; and Mrs. E. L. Hills, of Ontario.

In Southampton, Mass., our subject was born July 28, 1833. He was educated in Williston Seminary and Amherst College, where he spent two years in the civil engineering course. In 1855 he went to Fond du Lac, Wis., and in 1856 made the preliminary survey on the Vicksburg & Shreveport Railroad. In 1857 he went to Kansas, where he remained during most of the free state strife. He laid out towns on the Leav- enworth & Fort Gibson Railroad, among them Burlington, De Soto, Poland and part of Law- rence. When the legislature passed an act pro- viding for a relocation of the old Santa Fe trail he was appointed to survey it and find a shorter route. When a stagnation in business came in 1860 he assisted in organizing the first Lawrence party that came to Colorado. Just before the party started he was notified that he had received the contract for surveying the Indian lands in the Ottawa reservation. He soon completed the sur- vey and then outfitted an ox-train and came to Colorado via the Arkansas route, with Benjamin F. Crowell, Fred Spencer and Jim Tappan. He arrived in Colorado City June 29, 1860, and spent the summer on the divide, during which time he discovered Palmer Lake. With his friends he built a cabin on the divide, which was named " Ivencracken." During the summer he engaged in hunting and in the fall returned to town. In 1861 he went to the mines in Breckenridge, Ham- ilton, Fairplay and Little French Gulch, and at the last-named place fitted up hydraulic works in order to secure water.

Returning to Colorado City in the fall of 1861, Mr. Sheldon began surveying, and made the con- nection with the fifth standard meridian, survey- ing the entire valley. In 1863 he was given the contract to survey portions of Pueblo, Douglas,

Fremont, El Paso and Arapahoe Counties. Af- terward, until 1877, he engaged in government surveys, and since then has been retired. He made the first government survey of the San Luis Valley, establishing the thirty-eighth parallel of latitude. For years he has been interested in mining. Since the organization of the Colorado City and Manitou Mining Company he has been its president, and under his supervision have been developed twelve claims on Bull Hill, on the ridge between Poverty and Grassy gulches, Crip- ple Creek, and on Galena Hill. He is also inter- ested in the Home Mining Company and several others. At one time he was president and at an- other time secretary of the Colorado City Town Company, which was an important organization for twenty years. He also served as a director in Wheeler's Bank, Incorporated.

From the birth of the Republican party Mr. Sheldon has upheld its principles. While in Kan- sas he was a member of an association of free state men, formed to further the interests of those pledged to the free state cause and to afford them protection when in danger. In the early days of , El Paso County he served as a justice of the peace for several terms, and ever since then he has been known as "Judge." He was the first county sur- veyor of El Paso County and held the office for years. In 1864 he was elected to the territorial legislature and served as a member of the second and last sessions, where he was chairman of the committee on ways and means. In 1864 he used his influence in behalf of the bill providing for the subdivision of government land, which was passed and has remained unchanged ever since. He also forwarded other bills for the organization of counties. In 1864 Governor Evans appointed him one of the first three brigadier generals of Colorado, his duty being to organize militia in the different counties and establish defenses for the people. He was one of the first commission- ers of the Deaf Mute School and served one term during the inception of the charity. As a mem- ber of the school board he assisted in building some of the first school houses in the county. At this writing he is vice-president of the El Paso County Pioneers' Society.

Mr. Sheldon was married, in Colorado City, to Miss Calanthe Everhart, who was born in Ohio. Her father, Andrew Everhart, a native of Penn- sylvania, was a machinist and manufacturer in Ohio, but in 1859 removed to Nebraska and the next year settled in Colorado. After mining in

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Gilpin County for two years he located on Bear Creek, Jefferson County, and embarked in the stock business. In the fall of 1863 he settled on a ranch occupying a part of the present site of Colorado Springs. When one of his sons, Charles, was killed by the Indians, in 1868, he removed to Colorado City and retired from ranching. He died April 15, 1880. His wife, Rebecca, was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., and is now liv- ing in Colorado City. Her family name was Everhart, both she and her husband tracing their ancestry back to the Everharts of Wurtemberg. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon became the parents of three children, namely: Flora, Mrs. J. T. Janes, of Cripple Creek; Herbert, who died young; and Edgar.

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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 15

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