Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 19

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 19

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September 3, 1864, Mr. Edgerton enlisted in the Third New York Light Artillery, Battery E, under General Kirby, and was assigned to the army of the Potomac. He took part in the sieges of Richmond and Petersburg, and a decisive en- gagement at Spring Hill. At the close of the war he was mustered out, in June, 1865. Re- turning to New York, he entered a seminary at Genesee and afterward engaged in teaching for some time. Later he followed various occupa- tions (principally clerking), for several years. In 1876 he came to Colorado and settled at Lake City, where he began prospecting and mining. For two years he made this his principal occupa- tion, and mined not only in this vicinity, but also in the Animas Forks district. Afterward he was employed as driver for Barlow & Sanderson, owners of the stage route from Lake City to Saguache, and later he became agent at Lake City for the different stage companies. In 1890, forming a partnership with O. McCreery, he em- barked in the hay, grain and coal business. Soon he bought his partner's interest, after which he

Degunnell

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continued alone. From A. M. Wilson, in 1893, he purchased the book and stationery business, to which he has since given his attention, having disposed of his fuel and feed business.

Active in local affairs, in 1885 Mr. Edgerton was elected county treasurer. At the expiration of his term he was re-elected, and continued, by re-election, in the office for four successive terms. He also served one term as deputy. Elected a member of the town board, in that position he was influential in advancing local projects for the development of the city's resources. In 1898 he was the successful candidate of the Republican party for county judge. From 1884 to 1893 he was a member of the Lake City school board and its secretary. As a county official he is impartial, painstaking and trustworthy, and wins the confi- dence of the people. Fraternally he is connected with John A. Rawlins Post No. 28, G. A. R., at Lake City, in which he is serving as past commander. He is past noble grand of Silver Star Lodge No. 27, I. O. O. F., and a member of Golden Rule Encampment No. 12; also Can- ton Rogers No. 13, of Denver. The Denver Athletic Club numbers him among its members. In 1874 he was united in marriage with Mary C., daughter of Whitley Gilmore, of Minneapolis, Kan., and a native of Warren County, Ill. They are the parents of one daughter, J. Ruth.

ON. ALLEN T. GUNNELL. The services which in the past Judge Gunnell has ren-

- dered the people of El Paso County and Colorado entitle him to rank among the promi- nent public men of his county and state. From the time of his arrival in Colorado to the present he has been identified with its political and public affairs and has been recognized as one of the most distinguished members of its bar. As representative, county judge and state senator (in fact, in every position to which he has been called), his devotion to the interests of his con- stituents has been as conspicuous as his ability and broad information. Since the spring of 1894 he has made his home in Colorado Springs, where he has his office in the Giddings Block, having as his partner C. C. Hamlin, under the firm title of Gunnell & Hamlin.

While the Gunnell family originated in Eng- land, by intermarriage the present generation is principally of French-Huguenot descent. They were represented among the pioneer planters of Virginia. John Gunnell, who was born in the

Old Dominion, removed to Christian County, Ky., and engaged in farming, but after a time he went to McLean County, Ill., becoming a pioneer farmer near Bloomington. He remained there until his death, which occurred when he was seventy years of age. His son, Thomas A. Gunnell, was born in Christian County, Ky., and was educated for the bar. His mother died in his infancy, leaving him a large number of slaves. In order to support them he was obliged to turn his attention to farming. Establishing his home in Saline County, Mo., which had the largest hemp fields in the world, he embarked in hemp-raising. Believing the institution of slavery to be a great moral evil, when the war came on he gave his support to the Union cause. After continuing the management of his farm until 1884 he came to Colorado Springs, and now, at seventy-seven years of age, makes his home with his son, Judge Gunnell. In religion he is con- nected with the Christian Church.

The marriage of Thomas A. Gunnell united him with Marion Wallace Thomson, who was born near Georgetown, Ky., and died in 1896, while visiting at Buena Vista, Colo. The Thom- son family originated in Scotland, whence two brothers emigrated to America many years prior to the Revolution, one settling in Massachusetts, and the other going to Alabama or Mississippi, and from there going into Virginia. Her father, David, was a commissioned general in the war of 1812; his oldest son, Manlius V., who was a prominent attorney and politician of Ken- tucky, enlisted in the Mexican war when very young and was given a commission as colonel. Some years afterward, while serving as lieutenant- governor of Kentucky, he died, at about thirty- five years of age. General Thomson was a pioneer and large farmer of Pettis County, Mo., where he established the town of Georgetown, the original county-seat. One of the tracts that he entered from the government he presented to his daughter, the wife of Gen. George R. Smith, who laid out the land as a town and named it in honor of his daughter, Sarah, whose nickname was Sed, from which the name Sedalia was derived. This General Smith was a man of great influence in Missouri and was the principal pro- moter of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

The subject of this sketch, son of Thomas A. Gunnell, was born near Marshall, Saline County, Mo., January 29, 1848, and was the oldest of seven children, of whom three are

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living, Volney C. being an attorney in Ogden, Utah, while Eva, Mrs. John Bradley, resides in Wellington, Kan. He prepared for college under Dr. Yantis, in Sweet Springs Acad- emy, and in 1866 entered Bethany (W. Va.) College, from which he graduated in 1869, with the degree of A. B. He studied law with Judge Phillips of the United States District Court of Kansas City and Senator Vest, and was admitted to the bar in Sedalia, Mo., in 1872, but in the summer of the same year, owing to impaired health, he came to Colorado. When winter came on he went south to Austin, Tex., but the climate there did not agree with him. In the spring of 1874 he returned to Missouri and during the same year came to Colorado Springs, where he began in practice. In 1876 he went to Lake City, in the San Juan country, and two years later was elected to represent Hinsdale County in the state legis- lature, serving as a member of the second general assembly. While there he was employed on a mining case in Leadville, where he bought mining interests. On retiring from the legisla- ture he became a partner of L. J. Laws, in the general practice of law at Leadville. In 1881 he was elected county judge of Lake County and two years later was re-elected, but resigned during the last year of his second term in order to form a partnership with Hon. J. B. Bissell, now judge of the court of appeals of Colorado. The partnership of Bissell & Gunnell continned until the former was elected to the bench, after which Mr. Gunnell carried on practice alone in the same place. In the spring of 1894 he opened an office in Colorado Springs.

On the Democratic ticket, in the fall of 1890, Judge Gunnell was elected to the state senate, and served in the sessions of 1891 and 1893 and the special sessions of 1894. In 1893 he was chairman of the judiciary committee, and at other times served on various important committees. His first partner in Colorado Springs was Judge William Harrison, who died in June, 1894, two months after the partnership had been formed. Since then he has had Mr. Hamlin as partner. While his practice is general, he has made a specialty of mining cases. He is president of a number of mining companies at Cripple Creek and is interested individually in Leadville mines, where he owns some good properties. He is recognized as one of the prominent represent- atives of the Democratic party in El Paso County and Colorado. In 1896 he was elected, on the

regular Democratic ticket, as presidential elector and met with the other electors in Denver, where he cast his vote for Bryan.

Iu Saline County, Mo., Judge Gunnell married Miss Elizabeth M. Hancock, who was born in Hopkinsville, Ky., a descendant of the Waller family of Virginia, and a daughter of Rev. T. W. Hancock, a native of Christian County, Ky., and a pioneer preacher of the Christian Church in Missouri. They have two children: Allen W., member of the class of 1899, University of Michigan law department; and Seddie, a graduate of the Christian College at Columbia, Mo., now the wife of Hon. Clarence C. Hamlin. Judge and Mrs. Gunnell are members of the First Pies- byterian Church of Colorado Springs. Fra- ternally he was made a Mason in Lake City, and is now a member of El Paso Lodge No. 13, A. F. & A. M., Colorado Springs Chapter No. 6, R.A. M., Pike's Peak Commandery No. 6, K. T., and the Scottish Rite and Shrine.

Judge Gunnell is thoroughly grounded in the philosophy of the law, and among his contem- poraries is said to excel as a counselor. How- ever, he is particularly strong in the presentation of a case before both the court and jury.

ENRY JAMES HOLMES, editor of the Avalanche (daily) and the Avalanche-Echo (weekly), of Glenwood Springs, has been connected with the newspaper business from early boyhood, and, by sheer force of energy and de- termination, has risen from the position of ap- prentice to the head of an importaut publica- tion. March 11, 1891, he moved his plant from Carbondale, a town thirteen miles from Glenwood Springs, to this city, where his previous publication, the Carbondale Avalanche, was continued as the Weekly Avalanche. In June of the same year he purchased the Glenwood Echo, the first paper published in this place, and by consolidation established the Avalanche-Echo. The first issue of the Daily Avalanche appeared May 6, 1891, since which time the paper has en- joyed a constantly increasing prosperity, and has wielded a large influence in local affairs.

Mr. Holmes was born in Portland, Me., No- vember 18, 1852. His father, Thomas Holmes, a native of Ireland, emigrated to America with his family in early manhood and settled in Port- land, Me. In Cork, Ireland, he married Fannie Caughlin, who died when our subject was a small child. The father, who has engaged in

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the shoe business during his entire active life, is still living in Lewiston, Me. Politically he is a Democrat. Of his children, Thomas M. is en- gaged in the retail shoe business in Lewiston, Me .; John W. lives in Meriden, Conn .; Michael J. is a shoe merchant of Lewiston, Me .; Marga- ret is the wife of J. J. Sullivan, of Charlestown, Mass .; Mary Ann married J. F. Constantine, a mill operator living in Lewiston, Me .; and Lizzie is the wife of W. J. Wills, editor of the Goldfield Daily Leader, at Goldfield, Colo.

When twenty years of age our subject became an apprentice in the office of the Daily Press, of Portland, Me., where he continued in that ca- pacity until 1874, and afterward remained for three years on a salary. Meantime, he carried on his studies in night schools. From Portland he went into other towns in Maine, where he fol- lowed his trade. March 27, 1879, he started west, and arriving in Colorado, secured employ- ment as a printer in Denver, but in the spring of 1880 went to Breckenridge, where he prospected for a year. Not meeting with much success, he sought other fields of labor, and packing his blank- ets on his back, he crossed the Ten-Mile range into Eagle Park. At Holy Cross, in Eagle County, he engaged in prospecting and mining until 1884. Later he worked in mines at Leadville for a short time. During the same year he rode on horse- back from Leadville to Glenwood Springs, and from this place went to White River, where he located a ranch. Soon, however, he abandoned the land, having determined that Glenwood was to be his future home. At that time the town had no houses, its site being unmarked save by a few tents, but he had faith in its future and be- lieved at no distant day it would be one of the best towns in western Colorado. For a time he engaged in prospecting at Aspen, expecting to strike a vein of rich ore, but in this he was dis- appointed. Packing his blankets, he again sought Glenwood Springs, and accepted the first work that was offered him. For several months he worked at breaking rock in the tunnel of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, east of the town, after which he was employed in the office of the Ute Chief, a weekly paper, and in the spring of the following year (1887) he purchased the Daily News, a newly-started paper. This he conducted until 1889, when it was consolidated with the Daily Ute Chief, and soon afterward sold to George Banning. After disposing of it he went to Carbondale and purchased the plant of the

Advance, the name of which he changed to the Carbondale Avalanche. The first issue of this paper was made July 12, 1889, and he continued to publish it until he moved the plant to Glen- wood. The paper gives expression to the edi- tor's opinions, which are strongly in favor of the re-establishment of silver upon a 16-to-1 basis, and also in favor of a protective tariff which will protect home industries.

In 1891 Mr. Holmes married Miss Mary Nixon, of Lewiston, Me. They are the parents of five daughters, Carrie Nixon, Etta May, May Linn, Josephine and Clara Frances.

C ACOB J. ABBOTT, member of the firm of Abbott Brothers, civil and mining engineers and United States deputy mineral surveyors at Lake City, was born in Uxbridge, Mass., in 1850, a son of Jacob J. Abbott, D. D., and Mar- garet Whitin Abbott, natives respectively of Ver- mont and Massachusetts. His father, who was educated at Dartmouth College, gave his active years tothe ministry of the Congregational Church, holding pastorates in Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont. Deeply interested in whatever tended to advance educational interests, he served for many years as a trustee of both Dartmouth and Bowdoin Colleges. During the war he had charge of the work of the Christian Commission at Washington, in connection with which the subject of this sketch filled an important position, although then but a boy of fourteen years. In the ministry, in educational affairs and in public matters alike his influence was felt. His life was useful and active and no one more than he lived solely to do good to others. He died at his home in New Haven in 1878, and church and educa- tional circles of New England keep his memory green. The family of which he was an honored member has been represented in this country since the early part of the seventeenth century, . coming from England to Andover, Mass.

The subject of this sketch was one of four sons, the others of whom were named as follows: James W., his partner at Lake City; William W., form- erly a resident of Lake City, but more recently a teacher in Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina; and Paul W., of Whitinsville, Mass. There was also a daughter, Helen, who is no longer living.

The classical education of our subject was acquired at Yale University, from the Sheffield scientific department of which he graduated in

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1872, and then continuing his studies in the higher course of the post-graduate department of the university he obtained in 1874 a second degree of Civil Engineer.

In 1875 he came to Lake City, in company with his older brother, and the two embarked in civil and mining engineering at this place, since which time the firm of Abbott Brothers has sur- veyed and patented most of the mining claims in Hinsdale County and many in other counties of Colorado. His work has been principally that of establishing boundary lines and perfecting titles for mining claims. This work is always ably done and its accuracy has never been called into question. He and his brother built the Henson Creek toll road from Lake City to Engineer Mountain, known as the Lake City and Uncom- pahgre road, without which neither the town nor the county could maintain an existence. Nearly all of the roads in the county have been built under his supervision. He now has charge of the construction of the great reservoir at Lake San Cristobal, owned by A. E. Reynolds, of Den- ver, which will be one of the largest in the state and will generate electric power for the use of several important mines of the county. He is actively engaged in the development of the min- eral resources of Hinsdale County and his work in that direction is of the most important nature. He has in turn been both mayor and trustee of the town of Lake City and has served a term as superintendent of public instruction and held the office of justice of the peace for a number of years.

February 26, 1877, Mr. Abbott married Jenny, daughter of Enoch and Mary (Seabury) Farring- ton, of Auburn, Me. Mr. Farrington was the most noted tenor singer in New England for a long term of years. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are the parents of six living children: Margaret, Dudley, Farrington, Jacob J., Jr., Catharine and Cush- man, all of them born in Lake City. Their youngest child, Dorothy, rests by her grand- father's side in the beautiful family cemetery at Whitinsville, Mass.

J. HULANISKI, proprietor and editor of the Silverite Plain Dealer, is among the , leading newspaper men, not only of Ouray County, but of the entire San Juan country. Formerly the editor of the Plain Dealer, which he purchased on coming to Ouray in 1890, five

years later, by consolidation with the Silverite, he formed the newspaper which he now owns and publishes. Through his energy and ability he has been an important factor in the promotion of local enterprises. He has made his paper the medium through which he reaches the people, arousing them to a feeling of duty regarding needed reforms, interesting them in desired im- provements and keeping them informed concern- ing the issues of the age. Justly he may regard with pride his paper and the influence it has ex- erted over the people. To his labor is due not a little of the progress made by Ouray, which, with its good hotels, schools and banks, its hot springs, its electric lights, sewerage, water works, etc., situated, as it is, in the midst of lofty moun- tains, rich in silver and gold, may well be called one of the finest towns of southwestern Colorado.

The Hulaniski family is of Polish descent. Our subject's father, Julian Hulaniski, was born and educated in Poland, and owned large estates there, but these he lost during the insurrection of his country. He was a man of splendid attain- ments and broad knowledge, especially proficient in the languages. He was a colonel in the army at the time of the rebellion against Russia, and on account of his connection with this unhappy and disastrous attempt to gain liberty for Poland, he was banished. He came to the United States and for a time was a teacher of languages in New York City, but afterward removed to Iowa, where he engaged in civil engineering and in the sur- veying of railroads. He died in 1860, when fifty years of age.

Born in Iowa in 1860,our subject was educated in the military academy at Vicksburg, Miss., and Omaha (Neb.) College. While in Omaha he learned the printer's trade, at which he served an apprenticeship with the Omaha Herald. In 1875 he went to Kansas and became connected with the Leavenworth Times and later was with the Topeka Capital. In 1883 he established the Western Empire at Alton, a weekly journal, of which he was editor and proprietor until 1888. He also built up the Kansas City Sun, which be- came a reportorial journal. On selling it in 1889 he came to Ouray, where he has since resided. In the fall of 1895 he was elected, on the Populist ticket, judge of Ouray County, which office he filled for three years.

Fraternally Judge Hulaniski is a member of Mount Hayden Lodge No. 78, K. P., in which he is past chancellor commander; and he is also

HON. WILLIAM STORY.

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identified with Columbine Company No. 15, Uni- form Rank. In 1880 he married Ruth Kerr, of Kansas, by whom he has three daughters, Opal, Ruth and Marcia. Having made journalism his life study, he has acquired a thorough knowledge of its every detail, and this knowledge, combined with his good judgment and business ability, has enabled him to attain a high rank among the journalists of the west.

Judge Hulaniski's latest venture is probably the most important in recent years, and through it he will no doubt win fresh laurels and financial success. This is the incorporation of a large publishing company in Denver, in April of 1899, with some of the best-known men of the state of Colorado interested with him. They are pub- lishing the Colorado Democrat, the only general state paper which is Democratic in politics, and the only Democratic paper in the city of Denver. He alternates his time between Ouray and Den- ver, and edits both the papers here mentioned.

ON. WILLIAM STORY. There are few citizens of Ouray who have been more prominent than Judge Story, whose life strikingly illustrates the force of well-directed energy, steadfast purpose and never ceasing effort. Through his successful career as an attorney he has gained the prestige which ability always wins, while through his efficient service as lieutenant-governor of Colorado his name was brought prominently before the people of the state. He has given liberally of time, means and thought to promote the welfare of the state and secure the advancement of its best interests.

The success which has come to Judge Story is largely due to qualities of determination and per- severance, inherited from a long line of God-fear- ing, law-abiding ancestors. He is a descendant of the Marion, Roddock and Story families, well known in the early history of Massachusetts. His father, Capt. John P. Story, a sea-faring man, the son of Capt. William Story and grandson of Dr. Elisha Story of Revolutionary fame, was born in Marblehead, Mass., and having acquired a competence, at about the age of thirty years set- tled in Wisconsin, where he married Miss Eliza- beth Quarles and where the subject of our sketch was born in 1843. Judge Story went to school in Waukesha, Wis., Salem, Mass., and Ann Arbor, Mich., graduating from the law depart- ment of the Michigan University in 1864, after

which he enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Regular Wisconsin Infantry, serving until the regiment was mustered out.

In the fall of 1865 he entered the law office of Carter, Pitkin & Davis, of Milwaukee (Mr. Pitkin being later governor of Colorado). In Septem- ber, 1866, at the request of Col. LaFayette Gregg, afterward judge of the supreme court of that state, he went to Fayetteville, Ark. In 1867 Mr. Story was oppointed by Governor Murphy of Arkansas judge of the circuit court, a position he held until the adoption of the new constitu- tion in 1868, when he was appointed by Governor Clayton circuit judge for a term of six years. In 1869 he was appointed special chief justice of the supreme court of the state, his duty being to write the opinions in cases in which the chief justice had been engaged in the lower courts. In March, 1871, he was appointed by President Grant judge of the United States district court for the western district of Arkansas, which office he resigned in July, 1874, and, in the hope of recover- ing his health, which had been greatly shattered, removed to Denver, Colo., where he resided for three years. In 1877 he went to Ouray and soon acquired a large practice. I11 1883 Judge Stevens became his partner and the partnership of Story & Stevens continued until December 31, 1897, when the new firm of Story & Story was formed, the junior member being his son, a graduate of Cornell University. During the greater portion of the first ten years of his residence in Ouray he was attorney for both city and county. In September, 1888, he was nominated for the office of judge of the seventh judicial district of Colo- rado, but declined the honor, preferring to devote his time to the practice of law. In 1890 he was nominated by the Republican party and elected lieutenant-governor of Colorado-running largely ahead of his ticket in that portion of the state in which he was best known.

Engrossed as he has been with professional duties, Judge Story's activities have not been limited to law. He has been largely interested in mining, banking and other enterprises. For many years he was president of The San Miguel Valley Bank and its successor, The First National Bank of Telluride. He was president of The Ouray and San Juan Wagon Road Company during the greater portion of the time that com- pany was constructing its famous toll road from Ouray to Red Mountain; was interested in the building of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad

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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 19

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