Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 171

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 171

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When the old Pueblo Board of Trade was or- ganized in 1888 he was one of the incorporators and later was elected president. This organiza- tion was active in promoting local interests, suc- ceeding, among other things, in securing the terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the lo- cation of the Philadelphia smelter, and in obtain- ing ground in the heart of the city where they have since erected, at a cost of $85,000, the Board of Trade building. He also officiated as president of the Pueblo Light, Heat and Power Company, which was organized in 1888; as vice-president and a director of the Stockgrower's National Bank; stockholder and director in the Pueblo Grand Opera House Association, that erected tlie

finest building in the city and one of the finest in the state; and was active in the organization of The Standard Fire Brick Company. He is now a member of the Business Men's Associa- tion, the outgrowth of the old Board of Trade. In the organization of the First Presbyterian Church he took an active part, and afterward was a liberal contributor toward the completion of their house of worship. For years he acted as a trustee of the society as well as treasurer.

Interested in mining, Mr. Miller is president of the Associate Gold Mining Company of Cripple Creek, which owns twelve claims on Mineral and adjoining hills, also a copper claim near Coto- paxi. He is interested in other claims in Cripple Creek, as well as some in Aspen, Eldora and in Gilpin County. He is a stanch advocate of the silver standard, and has identified himself with the silver wing of the Republican party. While in New York state he was made a Mason, and later became a charter member of Pueblo Lodge No. 17, A. F. & A. M., and a charter member of Chapter No. 3, R. A. M. Upton Post No. 8, G. A. R., numbers him among its charter mem- bers, and in the Colorado Pioneers' Association he is a well-known member.

In Pueblo County, December 2, 1869, Mr. Miller married Miss Lizzie Dotson. She was born in Nova Scotia, and when six years of age went with her parents to Salt Lake, Utah, and soon after was adopted by Peter K. Dotson and wife, and took their name. At that time Mr. Dot- son, was United States marshal there: In 1860 Mr. Dotson came to Colorado, being one of the pioneers of this state. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of three daughters: Mary E .; Bessie B., wife of F. D. Aller, a metallurgist of Perth- Amboy, N. J .; and Effie F., a bright child of ten years.

ILLIAM M. CLARK, county attorney of Summit County and an influential lawyer of Breckenridge, was admitted to the bar in September, 1883, and has since built up a valuable practice. For a time he had his office in Robinson, Summit County, where, besides his private practice, lie filled the office of justice of the peace, also served as town clerk and town attorney. In 1886 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the county judge's office, and at that time moved his headquarters to Breckenridge, where he has since resided. At the expiration of the term as county judge he was elected to thiat

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office for the following terin. Since 1895 he has filled the office of county attorney. The Repub- lican party, whose principles he has always up- held, placed him in nomination for county treas- urer in 1889, and in 1894 he was his party's candidate for the state legislature. Four times, for one year each, he has been appointed town attorney of Breckenridge. Besides his official duties and his general practice, he has, since coming to Colorado, been largely interested in mining.

Near Sharon Springs, Schoharie County, N. Y., the subject of this sketch was born December 20, 1851, a son of William M. and Martha (Harrison) Clark. He was the second among four children, the eldest of whom, Rev. Harrison Clark, is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Coal City, Ill .; Martha, the only daughter, resides with her father and mother at Sharon, Wis .; and James H. Clark, M. D., is a physician and surgeon at Unity, Wis. The parents were natives of County Cavin, Ireland. The father, who was born in 1820, grew to man- hood in his native county and at twenty-one years of age emigrated to America. Shortly afterward he settled in Schoharie County, where he followed the blacksmith's trade. In 1864 he migrated to Illinois and settled near Harvard, McHenry County, where he engaged in farming. After four years he gave up farming and resumed work at his trade in a small village, three miles from Harvard. Soon, however, he removed to the town of Harvard and there followed black- smithing. In 1883 he returned to his farm, and ten years later moved to Sharon, Wis., where he has since lived in retirement from active business cares.

The education of our subject was acquired in Beloit College at Beloit, Wis. During the vaca- tion months prior to his graduation and for two years afterward, he was a teacher in the public schools of McHenry County. In 1880 he deter- mined to come west and on the 24th of July he landed in Denver. From that city he camne direct to Summit County, and settled in Robinson, where he connected himself with two gentlemen from his native town. With them he began in the meat business. Later he was interested in mining and hotel-keeping. In the winter of 1881-82 he disposed of his interests here and went to Denver, where he studied law under France & Rogers. In the spring of 1882 he re- turned to Robinson, where he spent the summer

and winter, engaging at various occupations. In February, 1883, he resumed his law studies, read- ing with W. M. Bickford, who was afterward a commissioner from Montana to the World's Fair. In September of the same year he was admitted to the bar and has since engaged actively in gen- eral practice. In the various offices which he has filled he has proved himself trustworthy, and has ever been found competent in the fulfillment of the duties which devolved upon him. He is interested in the county, not alone as a lawyer, but as a citizen as well. For his public spirit, as well as his personal intelligence, he is held in esteem by his fellow-citizens.

ON. JAMES W. SWISHER, attorney-at- law, of Breckenridge, and clerk of the district court, was born in Osceola, Craw- ford County, Ohio, March 6, 1844, being a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Minnerly) Swisher. He is one of four survivors of a family originally comprising seven children. Of these, his sister Lavina is the wife of H. H. Eby, of Mendota, Ill .; John A. is a prominent farmer near Men- dota; and Irene, a talented musician, is the wife of S. Higgins, of Clay Center, Kan.

Samuel Swisher was born in Pennsylvania in 1821, and when a boy accompanied his parents to Ohio, where he grew to manhood, married, and engaged at the blacksmith's trade. In 1857 he removed to Illinois and settled in Bureau County, where he followed his trade and also cultivated farm land. From there, in 1864, he went to La Salle County, Ill., two miles east of Mendota, where he has since resided.

Upon completing his literary studies Mr. Swisher took up the study of law, matriculating in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Admitted to the bar, he commenced to practice at Mendota. In the spring of 1879 he came west and settled at Montezuma, Colo., where he became interested in newspaper work, publishing the Montezuma Millrun in 1882, a weekly paper, with Col. J. R. Oliver (a pioneer newspaper man of Colorado, who worked on the Rocky Mountain News in 1859-60, when that paper was published on a hand press), which they edited and managed for six years. In 1889 he came to Breckenridge to look after some mining property. Here he opened a law office and engaged in pro- fessional practice. In 1892 he purchased the Summit County Journal, which he published until May, 1898, and then sold the paper to the

JOSEPH CROCKETT.

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present editor and proprietor. He was city at- torney of Breckenridge in 1893, 1894 and 1895. His appointment as clerk of the district court dates from 1894, and since his retirement from newspaper work he has given his attention to the duties of his office and to the practice of his profession. He has always been interested in political affairs and has taken a prominent place among the Democrats of his locality. In 1880, upon the regular party ticket, he was elected to the legislature and served in the third general assembly.

Identified with several fraternal organizations, Mr. Swisher is numbered among the members of Brooklyn Lodge No. 282, A. F. & A. M., of Compton, Ill .; Industrial Lodge No. 5, A. O. U. W., of Rock Falls, Ill .; and Gold Nugget Lodge No. 89, K. P., at Breckenridge. At Men- dota, Ill., in 1870, occurred his marriage to Miss Mary E. Howell. To this marriage three sons were born, but Sammy D. is the only survivor, James Charles and Harry, having died in childhood. Mrs. Swisher is a member of the Methodist Church.

OSEPH CROCKETT, one of the well-known men of Park County, came to Colorado in 1869 and after one year in Denver, went to Summit County, where for a similar period he was engaged in building flumes for mining com- panies. In 1871 he settled in South Park, and, taking up a tract of land north of Como, he em- barked in ranching, continuing in that place for a number of years. During 1875 he was one of the contractors who built the flume over the Rocky Mountains, for the conveying of water from this side to the western slope of the moun- tains, in itself a vast undertaking and one which many would fear to enter upon. Coming to Jef- ferson in 1878, he bought three hundred and sixty acres of land, and as he prospered he added to the original purchase until the ranch is now one of ten hundred and sixty acres.

A native of Nova Scotia, born January 25, 1840, the subject of this sketch .was one of nine children, seven of whom are still living, namely: James; William; Jennet, wife of James Eddy; Joseph, Amelia, Agnes and Robert. All of the family except our subject and Robert, of San Diego, Cal., reside in their native country. Their father, William Crockett, was born in Scotland and when a young man came to America, later settling in Nova Scotia, where he married Eliza-

beth McDonald. In his early life he followed milling, but afterward turned his attention to farming, which occupation he followed until his death. His wife was born September 16, 1802, and is still living, a very remarkable woman, hale and strong, and in the possession of all her facul- ties, in spite of her ninety-seven years.

In the schools of Nova Scotia our subject ac- quired a fair education. At sixteen years of age he apprenticed himself to the carpenter's trade, and after finishing his term, in 1860 he came to America and settled in Boston, where he remained nearly ten years, working at his trade. From there, in 1869, he came to Colorado, and has since made his home in this state. He is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. For several years he served as a member of the school board in this district. In 1883 he married Susan M. Ohler, a daughter of Benjamin Ohler, a prominent farmer of Hancock County, Ill. Two children blessed the union: Joseph B., who is attending school in Denver; and Susan E., de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Crockett are highly es- teemed by their acquaintances in Park County and have won a host of personal friends by their uprightness of character and kindness of heart.

LFRED S. TURNER, postmaster and pro- prietor of a general store at Garo, Park County, was born at Fort Plain, Montgom- ery County, N. Y., February 8, 1849, a son of Hiram B. and Hannah (Smith) Turner. His grandfather, Solomon Turner, who served in the war of 1812, was a son of one of three brothers who came to America prior to the Revolution and settled in different localities, one in Maine, another on the Hudson River and the third in Virginia. Afterward all took part in the war with England, each holding an officer's commis- sion.

Hiram B. Turner was born in Maine March 15, 1815, and was a child of four years when his par- ents removed to Canada. There he learned the tanner's trade. When twenty-one years of age he went to Lowell, Mass., in search of work, but finding nothing there, he went to Boston. Being unable to secure work at his trade, he accompa- nied some stone cutters to the stone yards at Milton, and there he made an agreement to work for a year at $11 per month, in order to learn the trade. At the expiration of the year he had be- come an expert stone cutter. After a short time in Boston he returned to the yards and worked as

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a journeyman for more than four years. His next location was in Mongomery County, N. Y., where he took a contract to cut the stone for the locks on the canal at Tribes Hill. Two years later he went to Utica, where for two years he worked on the construction of the lunatic asylum. Going to Fort Plain, he shortly afterward took a contract from the state to build all the bridges across the Erie canal between Mohawk and Schenectady. Some six months later the state stopped the work. He then engaged in building, and for eighteen years was a large contractor, employing as many as three hundred men. In 1837 he was one of the contractors in the erection of the Bunker Hill monument and built many feet of this famous structure.

In 1854 Mr. Turner went to Iowa with the int- tention of taking up land and settling, but the land offices heing closed, he took a contract to erect a number of buildings on the Vermilion River in South Dakota for a trading post (now the site of the town of Vermilion). The follow- ing year he went to Nebraska and staked a claim. Buying the necessary seed in Missouri and also two yoke of oxen, he settled down to farming. His first crop he lost through the grasshoppers, but afterward he prospered. In 1859 he started for Pike's Peak. After forming a company of forty-four men, the journey was made via Forts Randall and Laramie, and Boulder was reached on the 17th of June. Going to Gold Hill, he se- cured a claim on Little Gold Run, and began min- ing. After a short time he went to Tarryall, thence over the range to Blue River, locating where Breckenridge now stands. At that time there were but four men in the camp. During the same year (1859) he and his partner, a French- man, discovered French Gulch and built a fort there. In the fall of that year he returned east for his family and spent the winter in Omaha, in the spring of 1860 returning to Colorado, where he settled his family in his cabin at Breckenridge. His wife was the second white woman in the county.

After having mined for a short time on Blue River, Mr. Turner went to Georgia Gulch and bought a half interest in a claim, which he worked during the summer. In the fall he returned with his family to Omaha, where he wintered. In the spring of 1861 he again came to the mountains. He took a contract to dig a ditch into Georgia Gulch, and later bought a claim in Galena Gulch, where he worked, spending the winter there. In

the spring he bought one thousand feet more of the gulch, and, as he prospered, he added to luis property, for twelve years continuing to take out gold. In 1882 he sold his mining properties and his ranch in Park County and retired from active life. His prospecting during his mining experi- ence extended over much of the mining region of Colorado and he did much to develop the mining industry in the state. Since his retirement he has made his home during the summer months with his children in Park County, while his win- ters are spent in Denver.

The education of our subject was limited. When a boy lie worked in the mines, and recalls the fact that he often made as much as $5 and even $10 a day doing odd jobs for the miners. As he approached manhood he learned the trade of a stone-niason and this he followed for about six years in Golden. About 1870 he began freighting to Leadville, Breckenridge and other prominent mining towns. In 1879 and 1880 he was located in Leadville, where he often made $25 a day with histeams. In 1882 he removed to his ranch on Tarryall Creek east of Como, which he had ac- quired while freighting in 1874. Here he began ranching. After a short time he sold the land and cattle and turned his attention to mining at Tarry- all and San Miguel, where he had mining inter- ests. In 1886 he came to Garo and bought a ranch four miles southeast of the village. Upon the nine hundred acres comprising the estate he engaged in raising cattle and also raised grain for feed. In 1898 he established himself in the vil- lage, where, July 1, he was appointed postmaster, and in addition to this office he carries on a gen- eral store.

April 23, 1885, Mr. Turner married Miss Lina Bunce, a native of Crawford County, Pa., and the daughter of Valentine M. and Cynthia A. (Pea- body) Bunce. They have had five children, of whom three are living, Alfred P., Frank C. and Clara E.

AROLD CHALMERS. As a member of the firm of Chalmers & Galloway, the sub- ject of this sketch is engaged in the stock business in Park County. Upon coming to America in 1879 he proceeded direct to Colorado and settled upon a tract of land four miles north of Garo. In this property his father had pur- chased an interest during a visit in the United States in 1877. Settling upon the land, he em- barked in the haying business, and, as hay at

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the time brought a good price, he was prospered. In 1885 Mr. Chalmers became sole proprietor of the ranch, but five years later he took into part- nership Mr. Galloway, with whom he has since engaged in the cattle and sheep business. They are among the most extensive stockmen in the county and have ranching interests aggregating ten hundred and eighty acres, all under ditch.

ENRY T. SUTHERLAND, who is the owner of a ranch of two hundred and forty acres two miles northwest of Ster1- ing and also has important cattle interests in Logan County, was born in Green County, Wis., November 19, 1849, a son of Martin and Ellen (Thompson) Sutherland. He was an only son and has but one sister, Emma, wife of H. H. Heath, of Minneapolis, Minn. His father, a native of Genesee County, N. Y., born about 1819, in early manhood migrated to Wisconsin and settled in Green County. There he married and continued to reside until his death, in 1854. In early life he took up the study of civil engineering and afterward fol- lowed tliat occupation, in connection with farm- ing. After his death his wife was married to his brother, Solomon Sutherland, by whom our sub- ject was reared.

The grandfather of onr subject, James Suther- land, was a native of Scotland and came to America in early life, settling in Genesee County, N. Y. He became very prominent in public affairs in his section and was also active in military matters. Some time during the '3os he settled in Wisconsin, where he bought a tract of forest land and engaged in farming on the frontier. His abilities soon brought him into prominence in Wisconsin, as they had in New York. He was made a member of the territorial legislature, where he was a power in the framing of laws for the state. Both as a private citizen and legislator lie did much to advance the welfare of Wisconsin, and his death, in 1848, was mourned as a public loss.

The education of our subject was obtained in public schools and the State University of Wis- consin. At eighteen years of age he began to cultivate land which he rented from the estate for two years. Afterward he worked for an uncle in the lumber regions of Wisconsin. In that way he saved enough money to pay his expenses in the university one year. It was his ambition to study medicine, but in this

purpose he was dissuaded by his relatives. He went to Chicago and spent one year with an uncle who was engaged in the wool commis- sion business. At the end of the year, not lik- ing city life, he returned to Wisconsin, where he taught one term in a district school. Early in the spring of 1875 he came to Colorado. Ar- riving in Denver, he began to look around for a sheep ranch, but instead of buying such prop- erty, he and an uncle purchased the Leyden coal mine near Golden; however, they soon sold this without developing. Afterward they purchased the ranch now known as the Springdale ranclı, four miles west of Sterling. In the summer our subject returned to Iowa for the purpose of bny- ing sheep to stock the place. On the 11th of September, 1875, he arrived at the ranch on his return from Iowa, bringing with him twelve hun- dred head which he had purchased in Cedar Rap- ids and which he had trailed through from Omaha. The venture was a disastrous one, for at the close of the season the entire bunch was lost. This compelled him to begin again, without means. For one year he rode on round-ups for Mr. Iliff, after which he interested some Wisconsin parties in cattle, and he began the cattle industry. For a time all went well, but the severe winter of 1880-8 1 caused the loss of almost his entire herd, and at the expiration of three years his herd only numbered about the same as when he started. Selling the cattle, he had only enough money to pay back the original investments to the parties who had advanced it; and to show for this three years' work he had only two cows. His next ven- ture was the homesteading of a place two miles northwest of Sterling, where he began to recup- erate his losses and gradually gathered together another bunch of cattle.

In 1884 Mr. Sutherland was made deputy as- sessor of Weld County and one year later was elected by an overwhelming majority to fill the office of county assessor. A year after his elec- tion Logan County was incorporated and he was appointed by the governor to the office of asses- sor of Logan County. At the election he was re- elected to the office, and on the expiration of his term he became a deputy in other county offices, being with the county treasurer, clerk, superin- tendent of schools and assessor until 1896. At the same time he was very active in educational matters, and for twelve successive years served on the Sterling school board. In 1895 he estab- lished himself in the wholesale commission busi-

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ness at Victor and built up a prosperous business in a short time, but mining ventures caused the loss of all of his property. He then returned to ranching and cattle-raising. Since 1897 he has had charge of a ranch of seven thousand acres for W. C. Harris, and at the same time has continued in the cattle business for himself. Fraternally he is connected withi Logan Lodge No. 69, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a stalwart Republican. He is a man of great determination and indomitable perseverance, and no amount of had luck has been able to discourage him; adversity only seems to make him more determined than be- fore. As a result of this quality of "stick-to-it- iveness" he is now regaining his former pros- perons condition, and in time will undoubtedly be one of the most successful cattlemen of his county.

The marriage of Mr. Sutherland to Ettie, daughter of W. H. Harris, of Sterling, occurred April 10, 1879. The four children born of this union are Earl M., Ellen J., Clara B. and Ray S.

ILLIAM L. GIRDNER, manager of the ranch and stock department of the Dinkel Mercantile and Stock Company, settled in Carbondale, Garfield County, in 1885, before the Denver & Rio Grande Company had built its railroad through this county. For a time he en- gaged in railroad contracting. Afterward he formed a partnership with W. M. Dinkel and opened a store at Spring Gulch, but soon dis- posed of that business. When the Dinkel Mer- cantile and Stock Company was incorporated in 1891 he became a member of the firin, and is now general manager of its ranch of twelve hundred acres lying near Carbondale.

The father of our subject, King D. Girdner, was born in Kentucky, but settled in Mercer County, Mo., in 1839 and there engaged in farm- ing; he still resides on the old homestead, but is now retired from active labors. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army. In politics he has always adhered to the Democratic party. His father, Joseph Girdner, a native of Pennsyl- vania, removed in early life to Kentucky and afterward settled in Missouri; he was a soldier in the war of 1812. The mother of our subject was Mary Ann, daughter of Preston Underwood, a farmer in Tennessee, where she was born. Dur- ing the Civil war two of her brothers served in the Union army. Of her children, Albert S. and Edward M. are farmers; Harry is with his parents;

Nettie is the wife of Henry Sisco; Emma married Harvey Boyd; Alice is the wife of Edward Wilson, now a resident of Florence, Colo .; and Maggie married T. J. Laws. All but William and Alice reside in Mercer County, Mo.

In Mercer County, Mo., where he was born December 25, 1855, our subject spent his early years upon a farm. At seventeen years of age he started out for himself, and afterward engaged in farming and the stock business in Missouri until 1880. He then came to Colorado and settled in Gunnison County, where he engaged in mining for four years. Afterward he spent a year in mining in Utah. Coming to Garfield County, he settled in Carbondale in 1885. With the inter- ests of this village he has since been intimately connected. As manager of the company's ranch he does a general farming and stock business, and displays sound judgment in his oversight of the ranch. They raise about fifteen hundred tons of alfalfa per annum,-six thousand bushels of grain-and four thousand bushels of potatoes, besides an abundance of berries, small fruits and vegetables for table use. The principal business of the ranch, however, is the cattle industry. Usually they have about five hundred head, with an unlimited summer range, and they also breed a large number of horses for use on the ranch.

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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 171

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