Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 191

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 191

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At sixteen years of age our subject entered the Normal School at Kirksville, from which he graduated in 1879. Afterward he became a stu- dent in the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he took the regular course of studies, grad-

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uating in 1883. Next he matriculated in the University of Iowa, from the law department of which he graduated in 1884. On the completion of his course of study he visited his home, then went to California on a tour of inspection with a view to location. Returning east as far as Colo- rado, in 1886 he settled in Akron and opened a law office, where he began a general practice. His broad knowledge of his profession soon caused him to become an authority in legal mat- ters. As the town prospered he met with success and during the days of the boom he was one of the principal factors in the upbuilding of the town. In 1893, through a business deal, he be- came proprietor of the City drug store of Akron. In 1897 he erected a substantial building at Brush and opened a branch drug store in that place. In 1895 he was the candidate on the Democratic ticket for the office of district attorney; and, while the district is largely Republican, he was defeated by only thirteen votes. In 1894 he was elected mayor of Akron, which office he filled for one term. Fraternally he is a member of Akron Tent No. 2, K. O. T. M., also Star of Jupiter Lodge.

The marriage of Mr. McCollister, June 16, 1890, united him with Miss Mary C. Wilson, a native of Marion County, Iowa. Their two chil- dren are : John W., born April 2, 1891, and Hat- tie Lee, August 5, 1896.

RANK H. WHITHAM. During the time that he has engaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Holyoke, Mr. Whitham has estab- lished a reputation for fair dealing in every trans- action and has built up an important trade, that is not limited to his town, but extends through Phillips County. He was born in Fairfield, Iowa, October 27, 1866, a son of James M. and Emily Almira (Munhall) Whitham. His maternal grandparents were John and Mary Ann (Wells) Munhall, the latter a daughter of Abraham and Hannah (Hoffman) Wells; Mr. Wells lived to be one hundred and twelve years of age. Mr. Whitham was one of thirteen children, and the fourth among nine now living. Of these, Charles W., born May 29, 1859, is in Fairfield, Iowa; Hannibal, born January 6, 1861, is in Dawson City, Klondike; Martin Luther, born January 25, 1863, lives in St. Joseph, Mo .; John W., born October 29, 1868, makes his home in Seattle, Wash .; Emily, born March 5, 1873, is in Hold- rege, Neb .; Grace, born December 12, 1874;

married C. Hilsebeck, and also resides in Hold- rege; Rollo C., born July 7, 1876, lives in St. Joseph, Mo .; and Nellie, born October 15, 1881, makes her home with our subject.

The father of Mr. Whitham was born in West Liberty, W. Va., June 29, 1823. When a young man he went to Washington County, Pa., to establish his home. November 18, 1846, he mar- ried Miss Catherine Mount, by whom he had four children, but the only one now living is Will- iam J. (born November 30, 1849), of Phillips County, Colo. In 1850, accompanied by his fami- ily, James M. Whitham removed to Fairfield, Iowa, and there his wife died May 2, 1855. His second marriage united him with Mrs. Emily Almira (Munhall) Dravo, February 20, 1856. She was the widow of A. A. Dravo, whom she had married January 4, 1854, and by whom she had one son, Samuel A. Dravo, now a prominent lawyer of Holdrege, Neb. She was born near Wooster, Ohio, January 13, 1837, and is now liv- ing in Holyoke, Colo.

In 1880 James M. Whitham and his family removed from Fairfield to Thayer County, Neb., where they remained until 1886, and then set- tled in Imperial, Neb. At that place he engaged in the lumber business with a son. In 1887 he brought his family to Holyoke, Colo., where he engaged in the hardware business and resided until his death, November 5, 1897. While in Washington County, Pa., he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. When he removed to Iowa he put his membership in the Lutheran Church of Fairfield, while in Nebraska he was connected with the Presbyterian Church. For more than fifty-three years he was a member, in high standing, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From the time of his settlement in Holyoke he was intensely interested in the de- velopment of the town and was actively inter- ested in all undertakings that had for their object the bettering of the condition of the people.

On the twenty-first anniversary of his birth, our subject entered a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, five miles southwest of Holyoke. For two years he worked in a hardware store owned by his father. In 1889 he commuted on his homestead and went to Arickaree City, Colo., where he embarked in the hardware business. After six months he added to his hardware stock a general line of merchandise, and continued in business at that place until April 15, 1891, when he removed his stock of goods to Holyoke and

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established himself in business in this town. Here he built up a prosperous business. In 1895 he formed a partnership with his father and brother R. C., and a general mercantile and hard- ware business was conducted until the death of the father, after which our subject purchased the interest owned by his father, also his brother's interest, and has since conducted the store alone. In politics he is a Republican.

December 14, 1893, Mr. Whitham married Miss Emma M. Tipton, who was born in Glenwood, Iowa, August 20, 1874. She has filled the office of noble grand in the Rebekah Lodge, to which and to Holyoke Lodge No. 76, I. O. O. F., Mr. Whitham also belongs. Their wedding was an elaborate social affair, two hundred invitations being issued. The ceremony was performed by Rev. W. E. Collett, in the Baptist Church at Hol- yoke, after which a reception was given in the Odd Fellows' Hall by the parents of the groom, with the aid of the members of the Rebekah Lodge. One child has blessed the union, Strayer Earl, born December 3, 1894.

Mrs. Whitham is a daughter of Theodore D. Tipton, who at the time of her marriage was a stockman, fruit-grower and grain-dealer in Glen- wood, Iowa. Mr. Tipton was born October 1, 1841, and was married, in Chicago, Ill., in 1873, to Miss S. E. Strayer, who was born in Ohio October 8, 1852, and whose father, S. D. Strayer, was born in Maryland in the year 1828, and her mother, Nancy Strayer, in Ohio in 1834. In 1859 Mr. Tipton made his first trip to Colorado. During the following years he made several other trips from Nebraska west. July 4, 1862, he left Central City to join the army and served in the Union cause for fourteen months and fourteen days. Returning to Colorado in 1864, he went on to Montana. Indians were numerous and hostile. In his charge he had the wife and daughter of Judge Brown of Nebraska City; when they reached Soda Springs, the party with whom he traveled determined to go to Boise City, Mont., which left him and the two women to make their way, as best they could, in the midst of many dangers. Highway robbers attempted to capture the women and rob Mr. Tipton, but he succeeded in saving the women after they had made full preparations for committing suicide, believing this preferable to falling, alive, into the hands of their captors. They finally arrived in Virginia City, Mont., after six months and nine- teen days of exhausting and dangerous travel.

In that place Mr. Tipton kept a livery for six months, after which he went to Butte and built the second house in that town. He was in British America in 1866 and in 1867 mined at Unionville, in Oraphena Gulch, three miles from Helena, but lost his mining interest through fraud. Going to Red Mountain City in 1868, he located a number of mines, and later located mines at Butte. In 1870 he started for California, but while spending the winter at Salt Lake City was accidentally crippled, and then went back to Colorado, and from there to Glenwood, Iowa. During 1871-72 he had a store at Nebraska City, Neb. On selling out, he went to Lincoln, Neb., and engaged in the real-estate business. In 1873 he came to Colorado and mined in Sherman Mountain, and at other times he visited this state. In 1886 he located southwest of Holyoke. When this town was first started he moved into it, and afterward made his home here (meantime engag- ing in the stock business) until July 18, 1894. He then moved to I,ebanon, Mo., where he now resides.

ON. M. B. GERRY, attorney-at-law of Tel- luride, was born in Hamilton County, Fla., November 27, 1843. He was reared on a farm and enjoyed the meager advantages which that frontier portion of Florida afforded. Early in 1861 he entered the Confederate service, in which he continued until 1865, meantime being twice promoted in recognition of gallant action on the battlefield. His family fortune, which had been large, was swept away by the war, and at its close he found himself penniless, with the bur- den of the support of his widowed mother and three sisters. At once engaging in the lumber business, he followed it with varying success for some years. In 1869 he began the study of law at Macon, Ga., and the next year was admitted to the bar. Entering upon the practice of his pro- fession, he experienced the usual obstacles which young and inexperienced lawyers meet. How- ever, perseverance and determination won the day, and in time he prospered. In 1871 the governor of Georgia appointed him judge of the city courts of Macon, which office he held for one year.

Removing to Colorado in January, 1873, Judge Gerry engaged in the practice of law in Denver, but in the fall of 1874 went from there to Pueblo, where he soon obtained a large practice. In 1877 he settled in Lake City, the county-seat of Hins-

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dale County, and associated himself with Adair Wilson and John G. Taylor in the practice of law. All the members of the firm were well known and they soon had a lucrative law prac- tice, extending through the San Juan country. In 1878 he was chairman of the Democratic state convention, which met in Pueblo. In the fall of the same year he was nominated by the Demo- cratic party for senator from the twenty-first sena- torial district, but was defeated by Hon. Fred- erick Peck, the Republican nominee. In 1882 he was the Democratic nominee for district judge of the seventh judicial district, and was elected by a large majority. The district was largely Repub- lican, and his election was attributed to his per- sonal popularity and well-known reputation as an attorney. The seventh was then the largest district in the state, comprising La Plata, Dolo- res, San Juan, San Miguel, Mesa, Delta, Mont- rose, Gunnison and Hinsdale Counties; its sonth- ern boundary was the territory of New Mexico, its western boundary the territory of Utah, and its proximity to these territories, as well as its own character as an unsettled mining district, at- tracted to it roughs and desperadoes, thus mak- ing the office of the district judge by no means a sinecure.

In 1887 Judge Gerry was appointed by Gover- nor Adams railroad commissioner for the state of Colorado, but refused to qualify under the then existing laws in relation to railroads. Septem- ber 13, 1888, he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge S. H. Elbert. Dur- ing the same year he was the Democratic nomi- nee for judge of the supreme court, but was de- feated. He then again engaged in practice in Pueblo, but subsequently removed to Washing- ton, D. C., where he practiced his profession for some years. In 1895 he returned to Colorado, locating at Durango and associating himself with C. A. Johnson, under the firm name of Gerry & Johnson. In 1896 he came to Telluride, where he is now engaged in practice. He has served as county attorney for San Miguel County. Be- sides his practice, he is interested in mining in San Miguel and Hinsdale Counties. Fraternally he is a member of Pueblo Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., and Washington Lodge No. 15,B.P.O.E. In 1868 he married Hattie F., daughter of Hon. Charles T. Ward, of Macon, Ga., and they have an only child, Lila, who is the wife of J. J. Ham- ilton, postmaster at Rome, Ga.

There are few who have taken a deeper in- terest in politics than Judge Gerry. He is well informed concerning the issues before the people to-day, and not only has opinions of his own, but possesses the courage of his convictions, and champions Democratic principles with a firmness that opposition cannot modify. He ranks among the attorneys and jurists who by their ability have honored their chosen vocations, and who in turn have been honored by their fellow-citizens.

RANK M. SMITH, M. D., of Holyoke, Phillips County, was born in Erie County, Pa., January 1, 1859, a son of Amos and Catherine (Roberts) Smith. He was one of nine children, of whom four besides himself are now living. Mary, the eldest of the family, is the wife of Frank M. Cole, of Erie County, Pa .; Amos R. is a practicing physician and surgeon at Eddy, N. M .; Belle is the wife of Irvin S. Knight, who is engaged in the elevator and mill- ing business at Hay Springs, Neb .; Ida is the wife of Frank Crane, a farmer of Erie County, Pa.

The father of our subject was born in the Hud- son Valley of New York in 1821, and there grew to manhood and married. For some years he engaged in farming in his native place, but after- ward purchased a farm in Erie County, Pa., where he continued to reside until his death, in September, 1887. His wife, also a native of the Hudson Valley, was born in 1821 and died June II, 1897. She was a daughter of Welsh par- ents, who came to America shortly after their marriage.

In Waterford (Pa.) Academy our subject took a college preparatory course. He then entered the college of Physicians and Surgeons of Mary- land at Baltimore, from which institution he graduated with honors in March, 1887. After graduating he went to Texas and engaged in practice with his brother, who was located in Colorado City. However, he spent only six months in that state. September 19, 1887, he arrived in Holyoke, where he settled and opened an office. Here he built up an extensive prac- tice. A year after coming he engaged in the drug business, carrying it on in connection with his practice. In January, 1896, he was appointed local surgeon of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad at this point. At the same time he was appointed examiner for the Burlington voluntary relief department, both of which offices he still

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holds. He is a member of the Colorado State Medical Society and the American Medical As- sociation. Fraternally he is connected witlı Holyoke Lodge No. 81, A. F. & A. M., in which he has twice served as worshipful master. He is also a member of Holyoke Lodge No. 76, I. O. O. F., and Holyoke Lodge No. 46, A. O. U. W. His political affiliations are strongly in sympathy with the Republican party. He is a member of the town council and in this position, as well as in other ways, has been helpful to the interests of the town.

May 14, 1888, Dr. Smith married Millie, daughter of Joseph Bower, who was for many years a millwright in Canada (where she was born), but later made his home in Wattsburg, Pa. Their marriage has been blessed by two sons: Orville Vernon, born November 27, 1891; and Myron H., January 10, 1895.

> ICTOR GARDINER HILLS. The name of Mr. Hills stands high among the civil and mining engineers of Colorado. The position he has attained with those of his own profession proves him to be a man of fine intellectual pow- ers and excellent judgment. Various organiza- tions bearing upon his chosen occupation number him among their members, notably the National Geographic Society of Washington, D. C., the American Institute of Mining Engineers (head- quarters, New York City), the American Society of Irrigation Engineers and the Colorado Scien- tific Society. For some years he has acted in the capacity of consulting engineer of the Anchoria- Leland Mining and Milling Company, of Cripple Creek, in which famous mining center he has his headquarters.

Born at Nunda, Livingston County, N. Y., in 1855, Mr. Hills passed the first fifteen years of his life in the east, and from there, in 1870, removed with his parents to Highland, Doniphan County, Kan. He was given excellent educa- tional advantages and from an early age dis- played especial aptitude for engineering. In 1877 he graduated, with the degree of B. S., from Highland University, at Highland, Kan., and received from that institution, three years later, the degree of M. S. While in college he devoted considerable attention to the study of civil engineering. After the completion of his university course he was for two years employed as principal of a public school.

The year 1879 found Mr. Hills in Leadville,

which was then the most famous mining camp in the world. After having taken a course in assay- ing, he became manager for a prospecting con- pany, of whose surveying and assaying he had charge for one year. In 1880 he began engi- neering at Kokomo, Colo. The following year he received a commission as United States deputy mineral surveyor, and had charge of a large busi- ness in Summit County. His name became known as that of an efficient and judicious engineer, whose judgment was wise and ability unqnes- tioned. He was selected to write the mining re- view and statistical article for Summit County, published in the 1882 New Year's edition of the Denver Republican, and the article was one that in every respect did justice to the resources of his county, while at the same time it deepened the estimation in which his ability was held by the general public and the representatives of his pro- fession.

After his marriage to Miss Maddie Flick, in 1883, Mr. Hills moved to Pueblo, and for nine years afterward was prominently identified with engineering work in that city and county. In 1886 he became the first city engineer of the consolidated city of Pueblo, and this office he filled efficiently for two terms. As engineer of Pueblo County, which position he held from 1885 to 1891, he had charge of a large amount of iron bridge construction and river improvements; and the recognized fact that no county in the state has better roads and bridges than Pueblo, is to be attributed not a little to his indefatigable energy while acting as county engineer. Much of his time while in Pueblo was given to hydraulic en- gineering, canals and reservoirs, as an expert in river channel changes and ditch damage suits. He was also extensively engaged in mining en- gineering, in which capacity he traveled over Colorado, and also went into Utah and New Mexico. Since 1892 he has been interested in the camps of Creede and Cripple Creek, and acts as consulting engineer for the Portland, Anchoria- Leland and other mines.

The attention of Mr. Hills has been so closely given to professional work, that he has had little time, even if he had the inclination, to mingle in politics and public affairs. However, he does his duty as a citizen and keeps in touch with the issues before our nation to-day. He has been es- pecially interested in educational work, realizing the importance of a good education as the found- ation for all business and professional success.

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AVID W. MC CORMICK. The visitor in Trinidad notices, picturesquely situated in the canon between "Prospect Point" and "Simpson's Rest," one of the most elegant resi- dences in the city. Here, in the house he erec- ted in1 1889, Mr. McCormick is passing the twi- light of his years, in retirement from the cares that once thronged his busy life. After years of activity, he can now, in his leisure, look back upon the past without regret and forward to the future without fear, strong in the knowledge that he has done all within his power to make the world better for his having lived.

Mr. McCormick was born in Lewistown, Pa., September 30, 1819, a son of David and Jane (Thompson) McCormick, both natives of Penn- sylvania. He was the youngest and is now the sole survivor of a family of five. Of these one died in childhood. John C., who spent a short time in the west, returned to Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the work of a mail contractor. Jane married Theodore Franks, who obtained a position under the government and moved from Pennsylvania to Washington, D. C. Eliza T. married Thomas Stuart, 'a merchant of Lewis- town, but who spent his last years in Philadel- phia.

When a boy our subject assisted in his father's store in Lewistown, which, his father having died, was conducted by the mother in behalf of the estate. When twenty-two years of age he ac- cepted a clerkship in a country store, and there he remained for five years. In 1855 he started west. At that time the Kansas free state troubles were just beginning. Arriving in Leavenworth, he opened a general store and for two years en- gaged in business, but lost $60,000 by being burned out, without insurance. Building an- other store room, he gave the business into the hands of his brother-in-law and returned east, where he spent one year in visiting different points, among them Washington, D. C., the home of his sister. On his return to Leavenworth, he became connected with a store, but after a year a friend in the quartermaster's department per- suaded him to come west.

In May, 1860, with ox and horse teams, Mr. McCormick started across the plains, going via the old Santa Fe trail, and reaching Las Vegas, N. M., in June. There he spent two years as clerk in a store. In the latter part of 1861 he opened a mercantile store in Mora, about thirty miles from Las Vegas, and there he was inter-

ested in business for a year. In 1862 he received a government contract to furnish supplies to the troops on the frontier. Disposing of his busi- ness, he started for Kansas City, and during the journey passed through what is now Trinidad. He arranged with a Mr. Baca to secure a mule train of twenty mules, and also arranged with a miller at Council Grove, Kan., for flour. Passing through Lawrence and Topeka, he reached Kan- sas City. The wildest excitement prevailed there. The war frenzy had reached its height. He made fruitless attempts to secure some one to undertake the trip across the plains, butall feared the lawless element that roamed at large. Finally, George Bryant, of Westport, a town twenty miles from Leavenworth, Kan., agreed to make the trip. Four hundred head of cattle were bought, one hundred and fifty of them from Russell & Wadsworth, who were going out of the cattle business. The supply wagons were loaded at Westport, there being twenty wagons with six thousand pounds of flour, and four to six yoke of oxen for each wagon. April 20, 1862, the train began its long journey, pursuing a trail a little to the north of the old Santa Fe trail. They reached Fort Union, N. M., May 22, having had a little delay by waiting at Council Grove, Kan., for some repairs. In spite of the many perils to which they were exposed, there was no serious mishap in that lonely journey, and the only loss was that of a few cattle that were poisoned by drinking alkali water. A part of the train was sent from Fort Union to General Canby, com- manding at Santa Fe, for orders regarding the disposal of supplies. By him the order was given to proceed down the Rio Grande to Fort Craig, where there was a military post. There a part of the supplies were left, the remainder being dis- tributed among various posts. The cattle were turned out on the range near Las Vegas, to fatten for beef.

With such expeditions as these, our subject spent his time until the close of the war. He then took the post agency at Las Vegas, and was en- gaged in delivering supplies from there to sta- tions and posts below on the Rio Grande, as far as Fort Craig. A large amount of dry goods had been bought by the company, which they expected to dispose of in New Mexico, but failing to do so, a train was made up and started to Chihuahua, Mexico, Mr. McCormick going ahead to see as to the prospects there for the disposal of the goods. Finding it unsatisfactory (as English goods could

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be sold for less than American products), he sent an unfavorable report back, but the company dis- regarded the report and proceeded. He stopped the train and took the merchandise to El Paso, Tex., where he opened a store, remaining until October, and disposing of the goods.

After a visit to his old home and his sister in Washington, D. C., Mr. McCormick went back to Kansas in the spring of 1865, and there found letters from his former employers, requesting him to return to Las Vegas and resume his old rela- tions with them. Again he crossed the plains, this time accompanied by his brother, John. After a few days in Las Vegas he started back to Kansas City, to fill a contract, but was stopped by the government authorities at Fort Lyon, on account of the Indian depredations. He then went via stage to Denver, where he bought a draft on New York, and proceeded to Atchison, thence to Kansas City, where he outfitted ten or twelve trains, and after reaching his destination with these supplies, was obliged to go to St. Louis to fill another contract, this work taking the remainder of 1865 and part of 1866.

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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 191

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