Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 162

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 162

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ELLS COLE, who is interested in the sheep business in Logan County, was born in Allegan County, Mich., July 3, 1857, a son of Sterling and Lephemia (Crum) Cole. He was one of nine children, of whom, besides him- self, six are now living, viz .: Flora, wife of George G. Hutchins, of Lawrence, Mich .; Aaron A., a stockman of Oregon; Orren O., a miner in Montana; Lanford L., a farmer and fruit-grower of Michigan ; Mary E., wife of Adrian Neil, of Al- legan County, Mich .; and Charles W. The father, a native of Syracuse, N. Y., born about 1829, came west as far as Michigan at the time the Michigan Central Railroad was built through to Kalama- zoo. He accompanied his father and brother and settled at Comstock, a village three miles from Kalamazoo. For a time he worked in the lum- ber regions and also spent some time on the river and lake. After his marriage he settled in Van Buren County, where he purchased a farm and en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. During his after life, the lumber interests occupied much of his time, and he had large contracts for furnishing lumber. He got out the timber for the first Micli- igan Central depot built in Chicago. About 1885 he went to Florida and hunted alligators on the St. John River. Thence he went to Tallapoosa, Ga., where he spent two years. After a short time spent in Tennessee, he settled at Holly Pond, Ala., where he now resides, having acquired extensive farming lands which he leases to tenants.

Between the ages of sixteen and twenty our subject worked in the lumber woods of Michigan. In the summer of 1877, during the gold excite- ment in the Black Hills, he started there, but changed his plans before he reached his destina- tion, stopping at Northfield, Minn., where he suffered a severe illness. In the fall he returned to Michigan, and there he remained until 1880, spending his time in the lumber woods. In the spring of 1880 he came west, landing in Cheyenne about May 1. At first he worked for ranchmen near Cheyenne, but in the spring of 1882 secured employment with the Iliff Land and Cattle Com- pany, of whose interests he had charge for four years, the work taking him all through Colorado

and the western part of Nebraska. In the win- ter of 1882-83 he had charge of the western part of the range, which extended from Cheyenne to Julesburg and up the Platte to the mouth of Crow Creek. In the summer of 1883 he rode on the range, and during the winter took charge of the horses owned by the company. After another summer on the range he resumed charge of the western part of the range. In the summer of 1885 lie acted as an outside representative and went south of Las Animas, where he laid out the trail for the cattle to Pine Bluffs, Wyo. During the fall of 1885 he gathered and shipped beef cat- tle. On the 22d of November of that year, he severed his connection with the company. At the same time he pre-empted and took up a timber claim and later homesteaded, which gave him three adjoining quarter-sections. For some years he gave much of his time to locating other par- ties on claims. He engaged at first in farming on his ranch, but afterward gave his attention largely to the cattle business and the breeding of horses. In 1892 he disposed of his cattle and horses, and engaged in the sheep business, in which he has since continued successfully. He is recognized as one of the county's representa- tive ranchmen.

February 12, 1891, Mr. Cole married Miss Isadora McConaughy, who was born in Goshen, Ind. Her father, Alexander McConaughy, was born in Ireland in 1822 and came to America in 1833, settling in Indiana in 1840. There he en- gaged in farming. He married Jane, daughter of James Frier, who was born in Ireland, came to America in 1818, spent a short time in Quebec, thence went to Vermont and there married in 1823, and the next year, with his wife, migrated to Indiana, settling on the east side of Elkhart prairie, of which he was one of three settlers, the first on the prairie. He endured many hardships during early pioneer days and worked constantly to develop that section of the country.

Mr. and Mrs. Cole have one child living, Eunice. Hubert, who was born October 28, 1893, died February 25, 1896. Fraternally Mr. Cole is a member of Logan Lodge No. 69, I. O. O. F., Encampment No. 37, and Star of Jupiter Lodge No. 25. His possessions include three thousand two hundred head of sheep, and, besides his landed property, he has, under lease, six hundred acres of land. The property that he owns represents a lifetime of toil. He has been a hard-working and energetic man and, without

DAVID MC SHANE.

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assistance from anyone, has gained a position of prominence among the people of his county, by whom he is respected as a man of honorable character and sound business judgment.

00 AVID MC SHANE. The pioneers of '60 have a worthy representative in this well- known citizen of Colorado Springs. Mr. McShane came to the mountain regions in early days, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of west- ern enterprise and push. Dangers did not daunt him, nor hardships discourage. It has been his privilege to witness the growth of Colo- rado from a territory with a small population, almost wholly miners, to a state that ranks in population and influence among the greatest of the states west of the Mississippi Valley. To this development and progress he has himself been a large contributor.

As the name indicates, the McShane family is of Scotch descent. Daniel McShane, grandfather of David, was born in New Jersey, and became a pioneer farmer of Fayette County, Pa. He had a brother, Robert, who settled in Monongahela County, Va., and served through the Revolution- ary war, afterwards resuming farm work; such was his physical vigor that he walked fifteen miles on the day before he died, when ninety-four years of age. Daniel removed to Iowa in 1850 and died there at seventy-eight years of age.

Our subject's father, Barney McShane, was born in Fayette County, Pa., and for twenty-five years engaged in dealing in horses, which he sold in Baltimore and Washington, D. C. The national road passed through Fayette County, where he resided, and formed the principal thor- oughfare between Baltimore and Wheeling. In 1852 he moved to Linn County, Iowa, and settled upon a farm near -Marion. There he died at eighty-one years. His wife was Elizabeth Ro- mine, a native of Loudoun County, Va., and of Scotch descent. In girlhood she removed with her parents to Pennsylvania, and there married; afterward her parents went to Ohio. At the time of her death she was eighty-five years of age. In her family there were nine sons and four daughters, of whom eight sons and one daughter attained mature years. The eldest of the family, Francis, served through the Civil war as a mem- ber of the Eleventh Kansas Infantry, and died in Linn County, Kan., at seventy-three years of age. Luther, who died in California, was a lieu- tenant in the Ninth Iowa Infantry during the

Civil war and took part in thirteen battles with- out receiving a wound. Jacob is living in Linn County, Iowa. William formerly of Fayette County, Pa., is now deceased. David, of this sketch, was next in order of birth. John C., who came to Colorado in 1860, is a wholesale and retail grocer in Central City, Gilpin County, Colo. Thomas Porter died at Helena, Ark., while serving in the Twenty-fourth Iowa Infan- try. Mrs. Eliza J. Horace died in Iowa; a dangh- ter died in childhood; Daniel was drowned in Pennsylvania when a boy; and Ashbel died there when ten years of age.

Niue miles south of Uniontown, Pa., the sub- ject of this sketch was born October 3, 1830. In boyhood he assisted in operating a small coal mine, with a fine coal vein, that was on the home farm. In the fall of 1851 he went to Linn County, Iowa, where he improved a farm from raw prairie. Four years later he traveled further westward, by team, and settled at Manhattan, Kan., where he assisted in building the first house. He took up land, but after three months went back to Iowa and resumed farming. In 1860, with his brothers, Francis and John C., he started to Colorado. They outfitted ox-trains at Kansas City, from which point John C. went up the Platte to Central City, and the others went to Summit County. May 6, 1860, Francis and David took dinner at Manitou, which at that time had only one building, a small log cabin, put up by Dick Wooten. They crossed the mountain at the base of Pike's Peak and went down on the other side to the Fountain Quibouille ("River that Boils"), which they followed to the head, striking across to the head waters of the Platte, thence to Blue River and Breckenridge. Theirs was the first train that crossed the range to Summit. For four years they engaged in placer mining on Humbug and American Gulch. Meantime, in the fall of 1860, our subject went to the San Juan country, with the first party that entered there. The winter was cold and the snow deep, and when spring rendered possible their retreat from San Juan, they hastened back to Breckenridge.

In the fall of 1864, with ox-teams, Mr. Mc- Shane returned to Iowa, and in the spring of 1865 returned via the Platte. At that time Indians were exceedingly troublesome, but he fortunately was not attacked. In the spring of 1865 he took up one hundred and sixty acres three miles south of Palmer Lake. Two years later he returned to Iowa and brought the family west, settling on

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the ranch, where he engaged in the dairy and cattle business. He still owns the property, comprising three hundred and twenty acres, with suitable buildings, irrigation facilities and other improvements. In the summer of 1868 the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians made a raid through the country and killed several people in his neighborhood, besides driving horses and cattle away. At the time he was away from home, and ou his return found that his horses had been taken, but his wife, with true frontier pluck, had frightened twenty-three Indians off with her gun, so that the family were safe. Re- alizing the great danger of another attack, he at once built, near his house, a stone round house, with port holes. From the house to the fort he built an underground passage, so that the family might escape, unseen by the Indians. This building still stands and is one of the few remain- ing relics of pioneer days. He continued in the cattle business and also raised fine horses, resid- ing on the ranch until 1888, when he removed to Colorado Springs, leaving his son to operate the ranch.

For some years Mr. McShane has been a con- tractor in the building of railroads and reservoirs. He contracted for eight miles of the Colorado Midland, from the vicinity of Cascade to Wood- land Park, along the same road that he traveled in 1860; also had contracts on the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf, and other railroads, and built ten reservoirs in El Paso County. During all these years he has been more or less interested in mining, and at one time was president of the Bison Mining and Milling Company at Cripple Creek, he having discovered and developed the Bison mine. He now owns valuable property in Summit County, where he first mined.

In Iowa Mr. McShane married Miss Catherine Willyard, daughter of Allen Willyard, and a native of Fayette County, Pa. She was a woman of brave, noble character, admirably fitted for the arduous task of rearing a family on the front- ier. She died April 10, 1898, of paralysis. The seven children born of their marriage are: Laura, Mrs. George Mewbrough, of Monument; Mary, wife of Alexander Perrault, of Minnesota; Albert, who cultivates his father's ranch; Sarah, wife of Frank Cotton, of Colorado Springs; Della, Lucy and William, at home.

Politically a Democrat, Mr. McShane has been a delegate to the various territorial and state con- ventions. In 1869 he was elected county com-

missioner, overcoming a large Republican major- ity. In 1872 he was re-elected, serving until January, 1876. Again, in 1883, he was elected commissioner and served for three years. During much of the time since he has made his home in El Paso County, he has been a school director. He assisted in building the first school house in Monument, and afterward helped to erect two others. He is a member of the El Paso County Pioneers' Association and the Association of Colorado Pioneers. While in Breckenridge he was made a Mason. He is a charter member of El Paso Lodge No. 13. He was made a Chapter Mason in Colorado Springs Lodge No. 12, R. A. M. He is also identified with Pike's Peak Commandery No. 6, K. T., and belongs to El Jebel Temple, N. M. S., of Denver.

In taking a retrospective view of the life of Mr. McShane we find a man who started out for him- self with but little. However, he had a good constitution, with great power of endurance; and this, with his energy and determination, enabled him to succeed where another of less force of character might have failed. In the midst of private duties he has never neglected the duties of a citizen, but has always shown an intelligent interest in public affairs, and has never considered his personal interests when the pros- perity of his city or state is involved.

M ILES G. SAUNDERS, who is a leading and successful attorney of Pueblo and the pres- ent incumbent of the office of district attor- ney, came to Colorado in 1887, immediately after having been admitted to practice at the bar. For a year he was connected with the United States land office at Lamar, Colo., and from there in June, 1888, he came to Pueblo, where he has since engaged in the active practice of law. As an attorney he has the broad information and im- pressive manner in the court-room which are es- sential qualifications. In 1891 he was elected city attorney, which office he filled acceptably for two years. His present office of district attorney he has held since 1897, his office being in the Opera House block.

The father of our subject was W. R. Saunders, a farmer of Kentucky and later of Nodaway County, Mo., and during the Civil war a soldier in the Confederate army. He married Helen Sims, of Virginia, who died when her seven chil- dren were small. Of their sons, O. R. is a farmer in Missouri; Thomas is engaged in the mercan-

JOSEPH PURCELL.

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tile business in Oklahoma; Robert lives in Ne- vada and W. F. in California. The daughters are: Ella, wife of O. W. Swinford, of Missouri, and Lucy, wife of A. H. Vaughn, of Oklahoma. Our subject was born in Maryville, Mo., July 18, 1867, and was educated in the public school of State."

his native city. He studied law under Judge Ramsey, of Maryville, and in 1887 was admitted to the bar in Missouri, from which state he came to Colorado. He has been an energetic, as well as an able man, and is therefore deserving of the success he has attained. He has always been a student and much of his leisure time is spent in his fine library, where he gleans from standard law books the best thoughts of the greatest legal minds of all ages.

The marriage of Mr. Saunders took place in December, 1891, and united him with Laura Jackson, daughter of Joseph Jackson. She was born in Maryville, Mo., and had been his school- mate in the days of childhood. They have one child, Esther. Politically Mr. Saunders is a Democrat. He has been a thoughtful student of public affairs and national problems, and has firm convictions upon all subjects bearing upon the welfare of his state and country. By his abil- ity in the management and administration of his official duties he has made himself popular with the people, and is regarded as an efficient district attorney. In his fraternal relations he is connec- ted with the Order of Elks, Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows.

OSEPH PURCELL, a successful ranchman of Park County and former representative of this district in the state legislature, was born in Chicago, Ill., February 14, 1847, a son of Edward and Ellen (Downey) Purcell. He was one of nine children, of whom the others are: Michael, Thomas and Mark, who are engaged in ranching in Dakota; Edward, deceased; Mary, wife of Michael McNiff, of Chicago; Mrs. Cather- ine O'Mealy, of Chicago; Margaret and Ellen, deceased.

The father of this family was born in Cambria County, Pa., in 1815. In youth he learned the engineer's trade, which he afterward followed. After his marriage he settled in Johnstown, his native place, and there he remained until 1846, when he removed, with his family, to Chicago. In that city he made his home until he died in 1883. The first fifteen years of our subject's life were passed under the parental roof. He then

shipped aboard a vessel plying between Chicago and Buffalo in the grain trade, and afterward he followed the lakes until the spring of 1873. During the last four years of his life on the lakes he was mate on the "Bismarck" and the "Bay

At the outbreak of the gold excitement in the Black Hills, Mr. Purcell joined a party of forty- eight and went to that region, but the govern- ment authorities refused to allow them to enter. The party disbanded and he, with fourteen others, spent the summer in hunting and trapping, go- ing as far as Green River, Wyo., where the party disbanded. He then proceeded to Fort Rawlins, thence to Middle Park and finally to Denver. In the spring of 1874 he came to Fairplay, but in a few days went back to Denver, returning to Park County on the 4th of July. At first he worked in the Moose mine on Mount Bross. When silver was discovered at Leadville he went there and engaged in mining at this place, where he has since continued. Among his mining enter- prises is an interest in the well-known Modoc mine. With a partner, in 1880 he purchased his present ranch of fourteen hundred and forty acres, one and one-half miles east of Fairplay, where he embarked in raising hay and cattle. Since 1887, when he purchased his partner's interest, he has conducted the ranch alone.

The marriage of Mr. Purcell, in 1888, united him with Miss Cornelia Parks, by whom he has two children, Joseph and Kathleen. Fraternally he is connected with Leadville Lodge No. 31, A. F. & A. M., and Ionic Lodge No. 35, I. O. O. F., of Leadville. He is an ardent sup- porter of the Republican party and has been largely instrumental in its success in Lake County. He was his party's nominee for the legislature in 1888 from Lake County and was elected by a fair majority, serving in the seventh general assembly, and as a legislator acquitting himself with intelligence and dignity.

OHN R. WILLIAMS, county judge of Wash- ington County, has for years been one of the prominent residents of Akron. It was in the fall of 1885 that he first came to this town, and in the spring of the following year he re- moved his family to his new home. He entered a claim three miles southwest of town, but in the fall of 1886 settled in town, where for two years he conducted a feed store. Afterward he gave his attention to the duties of justice of the peace

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and police magistrate, and as this was during the "boom" days of Akron, the business of his offices kept him fully occupied. Upon the erection of the water works in 1890, he assisted in placing the machinery in readiness for operation, and afterward, for six and one-half years, he had charge of the pump of the plant. Following this he spent a summer in travel through the moun- tains, after which he returned to Akron and opened a meat market, which he conducted till the fall of 1898. At that time he was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of county judge, and has since given his attention to its duties, as well as to the office of town clerk.

In Will County, Ill., Judge Williams was born February 14, 1838, a son of John and Elizabeth (Burr) Williams. He was one of eight children and the second among the four now living. The. others are: Richard C., of Illinois; Leroy S., of the Soldiers' Home in California; and Rebecca, wife of Abraham Withroe, of Kentland, Ind. His father was born in Greenbrier County, Va., in 1802, and there grew to manhood, married and engaged in farming. In 1832 he removed to Illi- nois, settling in what was afterward Will Coun- ty. Illinois was then on the frontier and liad few white settlers, but numerous Indians. He established his home on the edge of the forest, his farm embracing some prairie and some timber land. He was a sturdy old pioneer, a typical representative of the early days, rugged, honest, industrious and persevering. For sixty years he made his home within one and one-half miles of the place of his original settlement, and there he died in 1892, when he lacked but one month and twelve days of being ninety years old. He was an earnest Christian and a sincere member of the Methodist Church.

When twenty-one years of age our subject left the parental roof and started ont in the world for himself. He migrated to Nebraska, stopping in Cass County for one season, after which he went to Fremont County, Iowa, and for three and one- half years worked in a gristmill there. In 1863 he returned to his native county, where he of- fered his services to the Union cause. In Novem- ber of that year he enlisted in Company A, One Hundredth Illinois Infantry, and was sent with his command to Tennessee, serving under Gen- eral Sherman in 1864. For four months he took part in almost daily skirmishes, which continued until the army reached Atlanta; then they turned back to Nashville. Before reaching Nashville,

and during the battle of Franklin, Tenn., he was wounded so that further service was impossible. He was sent to Keokuk, Iowa, and was mustered out of the service at Davenport, Iowa, in the spring of 1865, under the general orders to dis- charge all volunteers.

After his discharge he returned home. Soon he settled in Fremont County, Iowa, where, from that time until 1879, he was engaged in various business enterprises. February 14, 1871, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary C. Rogers, a native of New York state. Her father, Almon Rogers, removed from New York to Fremont County, Iowa, in an early day and afterward re- sided there. In 1879 our subject removed to southwestern Nebraska, where he engaged in the milling business in Furnace County. In the fall of 1885 he came to Akron, in or near which he has since resided. He is one of the prominent men of Washington County, and as an official, has proved himself capable, efficient and faithful. He is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic. Both in times of war and in peace he 'has been a patriotic and loyal citizen, ever ready to stand by his country and his state.

OHN S. BOOHER. In the life of this prom- inent business man of Sheridan Lake are illustrated the results of perseverance and energy, coupled with judicious management and strict integrity. He is a citizen of whom any com- munity might well be proud, and the people of Kiowa County, fully appreciating his worth, accord him a foremost place in the ranks of their representative men and for ten consecutive years have elected him to the responsible position of county assessor. As the editor of the. Kiowa County News, he wields an important influence in this section of country, while through his ranch and stock interests he has become widely known among stockmen.

Near Hillsboro, Montgomery County, Ill., the subject of this sketch was born October 10, 1861. His boyhood days were spent on the home farm and in attendance upon local schools. In the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, Ind., he took the teachers' and the junior law courses, after which he taught two terms of school. For three years he studied in Congress- man Lane's law office in Hillsboro, at the same time acting as clerk to Mr. Lane. He was ad- mitted to practice before the supreme court in 1886 and the same year went to southern Kan-

JOHN C. VROMAN.

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sas, settling in Greensburg. There he held the position of deputy county treasurer for two years and was also bookkeeper and assistant cashier of the Greensburg Bank.

In the fall of 1887 Mr. Booher came to Colo- rado and assisted in the starting of the village of Arlington, but remained there for a short time only. When the county of Kiowa was organ- ized in 1889, he was elected county assessor and has since continued to hold the office, making Sheridan Lake his headquarters and home. He is the owner of a ranch, on which he has about three hundred and fifty head of cattle, and through the stock industry he has accumulated a valuable property .. In October, 1896, he established the paper which he has since issued weekly at Sher- idan Lake. The paper is an organ of the Demo- cratic party, but in local matters favors every project for the common good, without regard to the party that may have fostered and promoted it. When the question of currency was made a national issue, he ranged himself on the side of the silver cause, believing that no permanent prosperity can come to a country under the pres- ent depreciation of silver. In political matters Mr. Booher is a Democrat and has represented his party as a member of the Democratic state central committee for the past ten years. In fraternal relations he is connected with Kiowa Lodge No. 293, A. F. & A. M., of Greensburg, Kan.

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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 162

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