Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 164

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 164

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he conducted in connection with his shoe-making. About 1860 he bought a farm near Bucyrus and removed to the place where he afterward resided until his death, in 1887. His second wife was born in 1826 and died in 1892. He had previously been married to Miss Elizabeth Sinn, by whom he had four daughters, three now living, viz .: Laura, wife of Henry Albright, a farmer of Bucyrus; Sarah, who married Francis Fisher, a farmer of Missouri; and Elizabeth, widow of William Steward, of Bucyrus.

After completing common-school studies, our subject entered Ada (Ohio) Normal School, where for three years he studied during the summer terms, the intervening winters being spent as a teacher of district schools. He after- ward took up the study of medicine and for six months read medicine with his brother, Dr. Charles H. Noblet, of Bucyrus. At the end of that time he entered the medical department of the Western Reserve University of Cleveland, where he took a two years' course. In 1893 he came to Colorado and entered the medical depart- ment of the Denver University, from which he graduated April 17, 1894. After his graduation, in company with his brother, Charles H. (who had accompanied him to Denver), he went to Lincoln, Neb., with the intention of locating. However, not being pleased with the prospect, his brother returned to Bucyrus and he settled in Waverly, Neb. After two months he also went back to Bucyrus and there he practiced for eight- een months with his brother. In October, 1895, the latter again came to Colorado, this time set- tling at Holyoke. In February of the next year our subject joined him and purchased the drug store of G. W. Guinn, which he has conducted successfully in connection with the practice of his profession. His brother died September 14, 1896, leaving him the sole representative of his family in the west.

Dr. Noblet is a progressive physician. He keeps abreast with every development in the science and, by energy and thoughtful study, has built up an excellent practice and an enviable reputation. He is medical examiner for the Bankers Life Insurance Company, of New York, and the New York Mutual and is pension ex- aminer for this district. A similar position he fills in Crescent Lodge No. 38, K. P., at Holyoke, and Holyoke Lodge No. 26, Star of Jupiter, of both of which he is an active member. In his political views he is a Democrat.

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ALVIN W. GOSS. No state in the Union can boast of a more heroic band of pioneers than Colorado. In their intelligence, capa- bility and genius they are far above the pioneers of the eastern states and in their daring and heroism are equal to the Missouri and California argonauts. Their privations, hardships and earnest labors have resulted in establishing one of the foremost commonwealths in America. Among these hardy pioneers must be mentioned Mr. Goss, whose home is on the Greenhorn River in Pueblo County.

The ranch owned and occupied by Mr. Goss is part of the old Alexander Hicklin ranch, which was a grant of five thousand two hundred and eighteen acres to Mr. Hicklin, one of the oldest white settlers in southern Colorado. It is situated on the old Denver & Santa Fe stage route, and the mail comes and goes every other day between Crow and Graneros, on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Under the first administra- tion of President Cleveland the postoffice of Crow was established, and was named in honor of Matt Crow, former postmaster of Pueblo. Our subject was appointed first postmaster and held the office for six years, since which time his son, William, has been the incumbent of the position. The postoffice is located at the residence of Mr. Goss.

The subject of this sketch was born in Ashe County, N. C., in 1828. At the age of fifteen years he moved to Tennessee. He was educated in the common schools of the middle Cumberland Mountain district. In 1850 he went to Putnam County, Mo., where he was engaged in farming and stock-raising for twenty years, and in 1870 came to Pueblo County, Colo., settling on the ranch where he still resides. It was all wild land then, and the improvements now found thereon are the work of his hands. In recent years he has disposed of some of his property, being un- able to attend to all of it, but he still owns a large tract, and carries on both farming and stock- raising.

In 1854 Mr. Goss was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Baker, a native of North Carolina, who died leaving three sons: Zachariah, Morris and Sanders. For his second wife he married Miss Sarah Parsons, also a native of North Caro- lina, and by this union has three children, two sons and one daughter: William, Melvin and Lula, all at home.

During the Civil war Mr. Goss enlisted in the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and served for one

year in western Missouri, where the regiment was engaged in battle with Price's army. He also took an active part in the Indian troubles at South Pass, Wyo., and during his life in Colo- rado has had many thrilling adventures with the Indians, several times narrowly escaping death. In early days the Indians would often come to his house by the hundred and would devour everything eatable they could find. In his polit- ical views Mr. Goss is a Democrat, and has sev- eral times been the choice of his party for the office of county commissioner. For many years he has most creditably and acceptably served as justice of the peace, and has been a member of the school board during his entire residence here. At first the school district was twenty miles square and was called district No. 9, but that territory he has since helped to divide and sub- divide, until it now includes many districts. He has assisted in building many school houses and churches, not alone in the country, but also in the city of Pueblo, and though not a member of any religious denomination, he always gives his support to those enterprises which he believes are calculated to advance the moral, educational or social welfare of the county. Fraternally he has for years been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has accumulated a handsome property, although he began his busi- ness career in Tennessee by working for twenty- five cents per day. His life illustrates what can be accomplished through industry, perseverance, good management and a determination to suc- ceed. Being a man of domestic tastes, he finds his chief delight in his home. He is held in high regard by all who know hin.

LBERT SHERWIN. The American Na- tional Bank of Leadville, established in

- 1888, is one of the solid financial institu- tions of Colorado, and, through the ability of its officials, has gained a reputation second to none in this section. The bank building is a three- story brick structure, situated on the corner of Harrison avenue and Fifth street, where the busi- ness of the bank is conducted in a suite of rooms, elegantly and appropriately furnished. In 1892 Mr. Sherwin was chosen vice-president of the bank, and, on the death of the president, Morgan H. Williams, he became its president, in January, 1893, since which time he has been at the head of its affairs.

The Sherwin family was among the early set-

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tlers of Massachusetts. Timothy Sherwin, who was born in that state, removed in early life to Vermont and cleared a farm out of the dense forest, through which Indians and wild beasts still roamed at will. He spent his remaining years in Vermont and became prominent in his locality. His son, Timothy, Jr., was born in Vermont, and died there in 1830. During the same year occurred the death of his wife, Caroline (Akin) Sherwin, a native of Vermont, and daugh- ter of Judge John Akin, who was judge of the district court in Vermont for many years and also followed farming and stock-raising.

The only child of his parents, our subject was born in Lowell, Mass., in 1828, and was two years of age when his parents died. He was then taken into the home of his grandfather Sherwin. His education was obtained in the district schools and Chester Academy. At sixteen years of age he started out for himself. For four years he clerked in a general store in Vermont, after which he was employed in railroad construction in New York state, Wisconsin and Illinois for ten years. He then engaged in the lumber business in Michigan, having his headquarters in St. Joseph County, and continued in that occupation for seven years. His next venture was as a dealer in dairy products in Elgin, Ill., where he estab- lished a profitable business that is now conducted by one of his sons. In 1879 he removed from Elgin to Leadville, Colo., and built the Elgin smelter, which he operated until 1895. Some years previous to this he had become connected with the American National Bank, and finally, on being made an officer of the bank, he turned his entire attention to the business, in which he has since engaged. In common with the majority of Chaffee County residents, he owns interests in mines here.

In December, 1849, Mr. Sherwin married Louisa M. Davis, who was born in Rockingham, Vt., and died in 1866. Two sons and one daugh- ter were born of this union. The older son, William W., is conducting the dairy products business established by his father in Elgin, Il1. The younger son, Albert E., carries on a lumber business in Leadville. The daughter, Susan D., who was one of the most popular young ladies of Leadville and an active worker in the Presby- terian Church, died in 1898, mourned by a host of warm personal friends to whom her charming qualities of heart and intellect had endeared her. In 1868 Mr. Sherwin married Miss Frances M.

Lang, who was born in Hanover, N. H., and was orphaned by her father's death when she was a small child. The only child born of this union is Fred L. Sherwin, a rising young attorney of Leadville. In politics Mr. Sherwin is a Repub- lican. He has done much for the upbuilding of his town and has been particularly active in establishing its credit upon a sound financial basis that is far more healthful than the "boom" of early days.

ETER PETERSEN is a well-known mer- chant of Julesburg, Sedgwick County, of which town he was the first mayor. When he came Colorado in 1885, he settled in this place and established the business which he has since conducted upon an increasing scale. Be- sides the management of his store he has other important interests. He owns cattle and farming interests, which he has acquired during his suc- cessful business life here. With E. L. Loveland as his partner, in 1894 he acquired large farming interests under the ditch, which is one of the principal ditches of this section and waters twenty-two thousand acres of land.

The birth of Mr. Petersen occurred in Hanislee by Fleusburg, in Schleswig, Germany, October 4, 1849, his parents being Peter and Anna (Tychsen) Petersen. He was one of seven chil- dren, five of whom survive. He and Hans, a farmer in Sedgwick County, are the only ones in America; Anna, Lena and Johanna remain in their native land. His father, a native of Schles- wig, was there reared and married, and after- ward engaged in farming, which occupation he followed until his death in 1866. The subject of this sketch acquired his education in common schools in Germany. At nineteen years of age he emigrated to America, landing in New York City November 12, 1868. Going to St. Louis, he remained in that city two months and then went to Davenport, Iowa, near which place he was employed on a farm for six months. In the summer of 1869 he drove through to Lincoln, Neb., and afterward inspected different parts of the state with a view to locating. He selected York as his most available point, and there took up a homestead of eighty acres, upon which he began the task of clearing and improving the land. He was one of the first inhabitants of that now thriving village.

After spending eight years on the farm, Mr. Petersen removed into the village where for eight

HERMAN LITMER.

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years he was employed as a salesman in different mercantile establishments. It was in this work that he laid the foundation of his subsequent suc- cessful career as a merchant. In 1885 he sold eighty acres of his farm, which he had meantime increased to one hundred and sixty acres, and with the money received from the sale came to Julesburg and opened a store. He has since con- tinued to reside in this town, which, from its position near the border and on the line of the railroad, is one of the most important in north- eastern Colorado. For some years he was a mem- ber of the school board here and has also held other local offices of trust. Fraternally he is con- nected with Julesburg Lodge No. 67, I. O. O. F.

The marriage of Mr. Petersen to Miss Harriet B. Woolman, of York, Neb., occurred in 1878. They are the parents of two sons: Charles, who is attending a preparatory school in Lincoln, Neb., and Low, a student in the Julesburg public school.

ERMAN LITMER, postmaster and a gen- eral merchant of Jefferson, Park County, and one of the reliable German-American citi- zens of this section, was born in Hanover, October 6, 1844, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Beinke) Litmer. He was one of seven children, of whom four are now living, all in the United States. John is employed as foreman of a stone quarry in Newpoint, Ind .; Angust is a farmer living in Enochburg, Ind .; and Sadie is a dress- maker in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A native of Rieste, Hanover, Germany, born in 1812, Henry Litmer passed the years of youth in his native country, whence in 1847, a few years after his marriage, he emigrated to Amer- ica, spending sixty days upon the ocean and landing in New Orleans. He came up the river direct to Cincinnati, where he had a brother en- gaged in the lard and oil business. He settled in that city and became an employe in his brother's store, saving his earnings from year to year until he had enough to enable him to engage in busi- ness for himself. In 1856 he opened a grocery, and this he conducted until 1861, when he re- moved to Franklin County, Ind., and settled upon a farm. In that place he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1890.

In common schools, St. Xavier's College and Bartlett's Commercial College, our subject ac- quired his education. He accompanied the family to Indiana, but after six months returned to Cin- cinnati, where he attended business college and

afterward was employed at clerical work in his uncle's office. He continued in the same posi- tion until 1870, when he came to Kit Carson, Colo. From there he went on a surveying ex- pedition into New Mexico as an employe of the Maxwell Land Grant and Railroad Company. After some three years upon the frontier he went back to Cincinnati, but soon started for New Orleans with another surveying party. This time he was gone for some two years. On again going back to Cincinnati he resumed work in his uncle's office, and continued there until 1883, the year of his first permanent settlement in Colorado. Establishing his home in Jefferson, Park County, he spent four years in the improve- ment of ranch property. In 1887 he returned to Cincinnati, where he was employed by his uncle for more than a year, and later established him- self in the general merchandise business at Elm- wood Place, a suburb of Cincinnati. He engaged in business there, having charge of a good trade, until January, 1895, when he disposed of the business and made his third trip to Colorado. After some three months spent in Denver look- ing for a business opening, he came to Jefferson, and purchased the mercantile business, February 14, 1896, which he has since conducted. He received the appointment of postmaster from Postmaster-General William L. Wilson. While in Colorado in 1883, he was married in Denver to Miss Lena Miller. He is one of the representa- tive business men of Park County and during his long and active business career has visited many points and come in contact with many people. His energy of character and honesty of purpose have won for him the esteem of a large circle of acquaintances.

YMAN C. BAKER, editor and proprietor of the Fort Morgan Times, is a member of a pioneer family of Morgan County, whose members have been inseparably associated with the history of this section of the state. He was born in Anburn, Ind., January 5, 1851, a son of George R. Baker, and brother of Abner S. Baker (deceased), Frank E. Baker and Mrs. William H. Clatworthy, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. His boyhood years were passed principally in Baraboo, Wis., where the family resided. March 26, 1867, he entered a printing office in that town and there learned the print- er's trade, at which he worked in the composing room of the Baraboo Republic.

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When the party of eastern colonists settled in Greeley in 1870, our subject was among the number who sought a home in that then unset- tled and unimproved section of the state. He arrived there on the 4th of November. Prior to his removal west he had been in the employ of N. C. Meeker, the promoter of the Greeley colony and founder of the Greeley Tribune, and it was in this way that he first became interested in the proposed settlement. On his arrival he took charge of the printing department of the paper, and for ten years was connected with the same work, having full charge of all the press work for seven years. In 1880 he returned to Baraboo, but was not satisfied to remain there, and two years later he went to Crookston, Minn., where he had charge of the publication of the Crookston Chronicle. For six months he also edited and published the Carmen Courier, owned by the same publisher.

Returning to Greeley in January, 1883, Mr. Baker was employed on the Tribune for three months, after which he became assistant superin- tendent of ditch No. 2, which position he filled during the irrigating season. In the fall he re- turned to Baraboo, where he was united in mar- riage with Miss Helen U. Bacon. Accompanied by his wife, he again settled in Greeley, where he was employed on the Tribune for a few months. About the same time he took up a ranch of three hundred and twenty acres adjoin- ing Fort Morgan. In March, 1884, he came to this tract and erected a frame house, among the first in this locality. Here he commenced ranch- ing. While improving his home place, he also took charge of six hundred and forty acres be- longing to his father and brother, Abner S. September 4, 1884, he published the first issue of the Fort Morgan Times, which he has since con- tinued to publish, and which is recognized as the leading paper of the county. At this writing he owns one hundred and ten acres of ranch land ad- joining town, and is engaged in sheep-feeding in addition to his publishing business. He and his wife have a neat and attractive home, and are so hospitable and genial that their friends delight to visit them. They are the parents of a daughter, Florence, born March 17, 1886, and also have in their home Frances, the younger daughter of Abner S. Baker.

From the organization of the town of Fort Morgan, Mr. Baker has been connected with its growth, and as the editor of a bright and newsy

paper, he has wielded an immense influence in advancing the prosperity of the town. He was a member of the first town council, and from that time to this has never failed to discharge every duty of a loyal, progressive citizen. Fraternally he is a member of Fort Morgan Camp No. 193, Woodmen of the World.

ACOB M. MEALES, county clerk of Pueblo County and president of the Pueblo Build- ing and Loan Association, has made his home in this city since 1880 and has been promi- nently identified with a number of local enter- prises. In the fall of 1895 he was elected county clerk, assuming the duties of office in February, 1896, and so satisfactory was his service that he was re-elected in 1897; and, while his majority the first term was three hundred, this was in- creased to twelve hundred majority at the last election. In the organization of the Pueblo Building and Loan Association he took an active part; and he has since been president of the same. He is also interested in several mining enterprises.

On the farm near Gettysburg, Pa., where he was born May 5, 1858, our subject passed his boyhood days. He was educated in the com- mon schools and the Millersville State Normal School at Millersville, concluding with a term in Eastman's Commercial College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. From the age of fifteen he engaged in teaching school during the vacation months of his own school work, thus securing the money that enabled him to complete his education. He had also worked on a farm by the month, to aid in raising the necessary funds.

After completing his education, Mr. Meales went to Junction City, Kan., where he was em- ployed as clerk and bookkeeper in a hotel for six months. He then went to Enterprise and for six months carried on a grain business, after which he taught near Abilene, filling an unex- pired term in the Sand Spring school that two teachers had given up as hopeless. With the de- termination characteristic of him, he completed the term successfully. In 1880 he came from Kansas to Pueblo, and first secured employment as baggageman at the Union depot for the Den- ver & Rio Grande Railroad and afterward for the Union Depot Company, remaining there for al- most twelve years. He resigned to accept the position as deputy assessor of the county, in which capacity he served for four years, after-

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ward becoming county clerk. Politically he is a Republican and on that ticket was elected to his present office.

The marriage of Harry Meales (for by this name Mr. Meales is usually known) united him with Carrie M. Doyle, of Mount Holly Springs, Pa .; one son blesses the union, Jewell Gibson. In religion the family are connected with the Lutheran Church. Fraternally Mr. Meales is identified with Silver State Lodge 95, A. F. & A. M., of Pueblo; Pueblo Chapter No. 12, R. A. M .; Pueblo Council No. 6, and Chapter No. 7 of the Eastern Star; also Pueblo Lodge No. 8, and all of its branches, I. O. O. F .; Pueblo Lodge No. 90, B. P. O. E .; the Improved Order of Red Men, Woodmen of the World and Ancient Order of United Workmen.

A NDREW J. LANG, M. D., who is a well- known physician and surgeon of Sedgwick County, is also the proprietor of a ranch in the old Fort Sedgwick settlement, five miles southwest of Julesburg. On coming to Colorado in 1887 and looking around for a suitable loca- tion, he decided to settle on the reservation. Ac- cordingly he purchased a squatter's claim to one hundred and sixty acres. Here he has since proved up on the place and made his home, en- gaging in farming and the stock business. He has increased the extent of the ranch, which now numbers four hundred acres. Besides su- perintending its management, he carries on a general practice in medicine and also acts as justice of the peace.

Dr. Lang was born in Palmyra, Somerset County, Me., November 22, 1854, a son of Peter H. and Nancy E. (Farnham) Lang. He was the eldest of five children, all but one of whom are . in the west. In 1893 he received, from the sur- living. His brother, Benjamin F. Lang, M. D., veyor-general of Colorado, the appointment of United States deputy mineral surveyor for Colo- rado, and in 1897 was tendered a similar appoint- ment for Utah, both of which positions he now fills. In the spring of 1897 he came to Telluride and associated himself with C. L. Greenwood in general engineering and surveying, which he has since continued. He is interested in everything pertaining to his chosen occupation and takes a warm interest in the work of the American Society of Civil Engineers, to which he belongs. is a practicing physician at York, Neb .; the sisters are: Ella N., wife of Charles W. Home- stead, and Mary E., who married W. H. Towle, of Palmyra, Me. The father, a native of the same town in Maine, was born February 25, 1825, being the son of Samuel and Sally · (Smith) Lang, who were natives of Ports- mouth, N. H. Samuel Lang was the grandson of Samuel Lang, Sr., who came to America in an early day and settled at Portsmouth. Peter H. Lang was one of six sons, all of whom were highly educated. Two entered the ministry, one was for many years president of Waverly College in New York, and all were prominent in public

life or the professions. He engaged in farming and the stock business, also for some years en- gaged in merchandising. The property acquired by his father in 1803 is still his home, having been in the family almost a century. For four years he was a member of the Maine legislature, serving with Hon. Thomas B. Reed. With Neal Dow, of Portland, he was an active worker in the temperance cause. For years he wielded a wide influence in his state.

The literary education of our subject was ob- tained in Pitt's main central institute at Pittsfield, Me., and the Friends' boarding school in Provi- dence, R. I. Upon the completion of his literary education he began his professional studies, reading medicine under Byron Porter, M. D., of Newport, Me., with whom he remained for two years. He then entered the 'Cincinnati Homeopathic Institute, where he took the regu- lar course, graduating in 1883. His first location was at Weeping Water, Neb., where he carried on a drug store, while his brother had charge of the practice. From there he came to Sedgwick County, Colo., where he has since made his home. In politics he is liberal and has never identified himself with any party. Fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows. His mar- riage to Miss Martha E. Beyer occurred Novem- ber 22, 1892, and is blessed by one child, Frances Eleanor, born August 30, 1897. Mrs. Lang was born in Ashland, Pa., and is a daughter of Franklin Beyer, a merchant and farmer of that place.

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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 164

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