Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 192

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 192

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In 1867 Mr. McCormick came to Trinidad and established a general store. The town was then a village, with a few hundred people, and indica- ting to a stranger little promise of growth. After two years he sold his business, and began to buy and ship wool, establishing a store on the Cucha- ras, above what is now Walsenburg, and remain- ing there for several years. From there he went to a point forty miles away, where he engaged in stock raising and ranching, and continued there until 1888, when he returned to Trinidad. Here he became interested in buying and improving real estate. To replace the adobe building that stood on the corner of Main and Commercial streets, in 1888 he erected the McCormick block. He has improved other property in the city. He votes the Democratic ticket, but the nature of his business has been such that he could not as a rule accept local offices, though he served for a short time as justice of the peace. During his visit to Washington in 1865, President Lincoln was assas- sinated, and he well remembers the excitement that prevailed in the city when the dreadful tid- ings spread among the people.

April 20, 1868, Mr. McCormick married Mrs. Helen N. Boice, widow of Stephen Boice, and a daugliter of Alexander and Lucy Hatch. Her father was born December 7, 1801, and her mother in March, 1805, both in New York state, and

she was born at Le Roy, that state. During the Civil war her father went to New Mexico and afterward engaged in the mercantile business there. He also had extensive mining interests in Colorado, principally near Breckenridge.

ON. JOHN LUDLOW PENDERY, who is one of the most public-spirited and liberal citizens of Colorado Springs, and owns and occupies a beautiful residence on North Nevada avenue, was born in a log cabin in the woods, in what is now Wyoming, Hamilton County, Ohio, December 20, 1823. He is a son of Alexander Pendery, who was born in Greenbrier County, W. Va., and a grandson of Ralph Pendery, who accompanied his father from the north of Ireland to Virginia and settled upon a plantation; later he removed to Ohio and settled on a raw tract of land at Wyoming, where he spent his remaining days. The place is now occupied by Israel H. Pendery, a brother of our subject. Upon the same homestead Alexander Pendery spent his life, dying there at eighty-five years of age. He was a member of the Whig party and a great ad- mirer of Henry Clay. His life was that of an earnest, sincere Christian, and his kind heart and great generosity brought him many warm friends. On his mother's side Judge Pendery descends from John Ludlow, one of the first settlers of Springfield Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, and the first clerk of the town. He wasa mem- ber of a New Jersey family that originated in England. Gen. Israel Ludlow, son of John Lud- low, was born in New Jersey and was the sur- veyor-general of all of southern Ohio, settling near Cincinnati, at what is now Ludlow Station. He followed civil engineering, together with the real-estate business. At his death he was buried in what is now the heart of Cincinnati, Main and Fourth streets. His daughter, Mary, was born near Ludlow Station, Ohio, and was a most esti- mable lady, a devoted wife and mother, and a consistent member of the Christian Church. She was fifty-six years of age at the time of her death. Of her ten children three are living: John Ludlow; Israel, who is now sixty-eight years of age; and Mrs. Gephart, of Ohio.

After attending public schools for some years our subject attended Carey's Academy, six miles out of Cincinnati, a school that is still in exis- tence. He graduated there and then took up the study of law with Fox & Lincoln, in Cincinnati, and was admitted to the bar in Columbus, Ohio,

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after an examination by Judge Swain, later on the supreme bench of the United States. In 1844, two years before his admission to the bar, he was sent to New Orleans and Texas to secure some necessary evidence for an important case. For eleven years he practiced in partnership with William Garrard, member of a prominent Ken- tucky family, but in 1857 he determined to re- move to Kansas. His main reason in forming this decision was the condition of the country in regard to the slave question. In Cincinnati he was appointed United States commissioner and cases under the fugitive slave law came before him, it being his duty to recognize this law, although he considered it the most infamous law ever passed by congress and sustained by the su- preme court of the United States. However, it being recognized by all courts, he was obliged to give it recognition, although he did not believe that it was right to hold men as slaves, or buy and sell them.

In the celebrated Rosetta case, which was tried before Judge Pendery at Cincinnati after the Dred Scott decision, he held that where a slave was brought into a free state by his master, the latter could not invoke the fugitive slave law nor the police regulations of a free state, to take the slave back into a state of bondage. The case was contested by able counsel, but the learned com- missioner decided the slave was free.

Shortly after this Judge Pendery resigned and joined his influence with the free state men of Kansas. Locating in Leavenworth, he formed a partnership as a member of the firm of Pendery, Bailey & McCook. Mr. Bailey was afterward ininister to Hong Kong, while Mr. McCook was a brother of Gen. Alexander McCook, When the war broke out, his junior partner entered the army, and he formed a partnership with Judge Brewer (now of the United States supreme court) as Pendery & Brewer. He also had as his part- ner for a time I. S. Kalloch, since mayor of San Francisco. When Judge Brewer was elected to the supreme court of Kansas, Judge Pendery took into partnership Luther M. Goddard, who had previously been in his office and is now on the supreme bench of Colorado. During his entire period of residence in Leavenworth he steadily refused official positions. In 1878 he went to Leadville, Colo., where he was soon joined by his law partner, Judge Goddard. In addition to the practice of law, he engaged in mining. He located a mine that no one else would have

and this was sportively called the Judge Pendery mine, and is recorded as such in the records. At a considerable depth he unexpectedly struck a large vein of silver, and in less than a year sold the mine for $200,000. Since then, at different times, he has been interested in more than one hundred pieces of mining property. He partly owned Colorado No. 2, located and later sold the Rubie mine, and was connected with many mining associations, in which he owned interests. In 1884 he returned to Leavenworth and afterward with his wife traveled all over the country. In 1891 he came to Leadville to look after his prop- erty and while en route there stopped in Cripple Creek. He was familiar with mining camps and prospects, and became convinced this region would develop into a fine mining district. He located the Combination, Rubie and Lafayette mines, the last-named of which he still owns and is now developing; it is situated on the southern slope of Bull Hill, adjoining the Lucky Gulch. With Judge Goddard he has been inter- ested in the leasing and development of five and ten-acre lots of school land.

For some years past Judge Pendery has spent considerable time in travel. Politically he is now a Democrat. In early days he was a Henry Clay Whig. He was a member of the Clay Guard of Cincinnati, who attended the funeral, and served as a pall-bearer of that famous states- man and followed his remains to the grave. He has never sought political honors. Twice, dur- ing the war, he was nominated by both parties for mayor of Leavenworth, but declined the honor. He is an attendant upon the religious services at the Episcopal Church, and gives a liberal support to that denomination.

In Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1847, Judge Pendery married Miss Catherine Oliver Rockey, who was born in that city and died in Leavenworth. She was a daughter of Henry Rockey, a pioneer mer- chant of Cincinnati. The son of Judge Pendery by this marriage, H. R., graduated at Exeter and in 1873 from Harvard University. For six years he was receiver of the United States land office in Leadville, and is now a member of the law firm of Phelps & Pendery, of that city. He has two children: John M., who is attending the School of Mines at Golden; and Katie.

The second marriage of Judge Pendery was solemnized in Denver in February, 1880, and united him with Mrs. Rebecca (Hensley) McNulty, a native of Cincinnati. Her father,

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E. Hensley, who was born in Virginia in 1810, mentality. He now gives considerable attention was a member of an old family of that state and to the construction of an electric power plant that will furnish power to the different mines, but more especially to the Gold Quartz Placer mine. was related to the Benhams. When a young man he removed to Cincinnati, where he became a member of the firm of Briggs, Swift & Co., The first of the Peniston family known in the English lists of baronets was Sir John Pennis- tone, eldest son of Sir John de Pennistone, in the fourth generation from Sir Giles de Pennystone, who built Penniston in the West Riding of York- shire, and enjoyed great possessions in Cornwall. He was succeeded by a long line of sons and grandsons, all of whom formed distinguished al- liances. The immediate branch of the family can be traced back only six generations, to Anthony Pennistone, "Gentleman Adventurer" to the Ber- mudas, who was allotted six shares of land. Tlie ground where the old hall stood was strictly en- tailed. In it seven generations of the family were born. The Herald's College allow the family the Pennystone arms: three Cornish chough, parted pr pale on a field; or, crest a griffin rampant. large pork packers of that city. In 1857 he went to Leavenworth, where he was a wholesale commission grocer and also successfully engaged in the real-estate business. He died in that city at seventy-four years of age. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Friend and was born in Canada, thence accompanying her father, Charles, to Lockland, a suburb of Cincinnati. She died in 1851. Of her two daughters, one is living in Vancouver, British Columbia. The other, Mrs. Pendery, was educated in the Wesleyan Female College of Cincinnati, from which she graduated. She was first married to John McNulty, a cattle- man of California, and after his death she re- turned to Kansas, taking her two children, Frank and Maude McNulty.

Personally Judge Pendery is a man of many fine qualities. From his Virginian ancestors he inherits the large-hearted hospitality for which . was off the coast of France at the time of the the Old Dominion was once so famous. In dis- position he is genial and accommodating, yet firm and determined when once convinced of tlie jus- tice of any cause. Now in the twilight of an honorable career, he can review his past with just pride, feeling that he has done all within his power to promote the welfare of his fellow-men. He is held in high esteem, both by those who are honored with his intimate friendship, as well as by that larger circle of acquaintances whose regard he has won by his integrity, intelligence and ability. He loves the mountains of our state and says that they have fed him when hungry and have always been his strong friends. It is his desire that, when his earth life shall be ended, his remains may rest beneath the shadows of the mountains he loves so well.

IENZI E. PENISTON, who is engaged in mining enterprises in Hinsdale County, is treasurer of the Gold Quartz Placer Mining and Milling Company, owners of an immense body of rich gold-bearing quartz. Since coming to Lake City in 1876 he has engaged to some extent in merchandising, but principally in min- ing, and has experienced all the reverses and successes, the "ups and downs" of a miner's life. The Hinsdale Electric Light and Power Company was originated through his instru-

Richard Tucker Penniston commanded all American privateer during the war of 1812, and

great Napoleon's fatal step of giving himself up to the tender mercy of the English. Mr. Penni- ston staked his head that he would land him safely in America, but his offer came too late. He was a very high Mason. Among the family heirlooms are a knight's signet, or thumb ring, and a lady's diamond ring set solid, in an em- erald back. Coming from the "distant" side, there is a very old silver sword hilt, bearing marks of great antiquity. It belonged to our subject's great-great-grandfather Kiel, who was supposed to be a refugee of the Jacobite war. From its armorial bearings its original owner was of a Crusader and knight baronet ancestry. The great-grandfather on our subject's mother's side was Joseph Walker, surveyor-general of the island of St. Christopher. The grandfather was Hon. John Walker, who inherited the estate of Knapton Hill, and built Relief on the Flats and Victor, the residence of the American consul. -

The father of our subject, Joseph Vesey Penis- ton, was named for a great-uncle, Joseph Vesey, whose body-servant, Denmark, headed the negro insurrection in Charleston, S. C. Denmark was a Malay, and not a negro, as has been errone- ously stated. Joseph Vesey Peniston was a sea captain, born in Bermuda, and for years resided in Baltimore, Md., where the subject of this sketch was born in 1850. His mother was Jose-

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phine, daughter of John Walker. When he was five years of age his parents removed to Missouri and settled in Platte County, but the father was an invalid during the five years of his residence there and finally returned to Baltimore, where he died. He left two daughters and one son. The older daughter, Frances, married Dr. Sam- uel Rixey, of Platte County, Mo., where she died. The younger daughter, Catherine E., re- sides with her brother.

After the death of the father, the family re- turned to Missouri, where our subject received his education and worked on a farm. In 1866 he went from Leavenworth via Denver to Fort Saun- ders with a freighting expedition. On his return to Missouri he entered an academy at Platte City, where he continued to study until 1869. He then came to Colorado and engaged in the mercantile business at Las Animas with his uncle, Frank M. Walker. For seven years he also held the office of postmaster. In 1876 he came to Lake City and established a mercantile business, but he has given his attention princi- pally to mining since his removal here. From Independence mine he shipped the first five car- loads of ore shipped by rail from Hinsdale County.

Politically Mr. Peniston was a Democrat until 1892, when he took an active part in the organi- zation of the People's party and was a member of the convention held by the Populists and silver advocates, which resulted in the nomination of David H. Waite for governor. Several times he has been chosen to serve as mayor, city clerk and member of the city council, and he has also filled the office of justice of the peace. In 1892 he was a candidate before the convention for the state legislature, but withdrew in favor of another can- didate. He and his wife (formerly Loretta J. Hunt) and their daughter, Ruth E., have a pleasant home in Lake City and are popular in the most select social circles.

G EORGE A. SCOTT, one of the very earliest settlers of Ouray, where he has resided since August, 1875, was born in Jackson County, W. Va., April 29, 1844, a son of James F. and Hannah (Neff) Scott, both natives of Ohio. His father, who for a number of years engaged in steamboat building at Murraysville, Va., es- poused the cause of the Union at the outbreak of the Rebellion, and during the war served as high sheriff of Jackson County, Va. Now eighty-five

years of age, he is retired from active labors and makes his home with his oldest son, our subject. His other children are: Elizabeth, widow of James A. Hicks; Winfield, a merchant of Sioux City, Iowa; Henry, who is engaged in the abstract business at Portland, Ore .; and James E., who is similarly engaged in Monona County, Iowa.

July 17, 1861, when seventeen years of age, our subject entered the Union army as a private in Company F, Fourth West Virginia Infantry, and was soon promoted to first sergeant, then second and first lieutenant of said company. He first served under General Rosecrans in West Virginia and took part in the battle of Beech Creek, Fayetteville and Charleston, and later was transferred, with his regiment, to the army of the Tennessee. He took part in the battles of Haines' Bluff, Champion Hills, siege of Vicksburg, Jack- son, Mission Ridge, Tuscumbia and other en- gagements. Re-enlisting with his regiment, he was transferred to the Eighth Army Corps, army of Virginia, and took part in the battles of Win- chester, Staunton, Lynchburg and Snicker's Ferry, in which latter battle, on the 18th day of July, 1864, he was shot five different times and was left on the field for dead. He was cared for by citizens of the neighborhood until the fourth day after the battle, when a detachment of Union soldiers took charge of the wounded, and he was sent to the hospital at Annapolis. There he re- mained until August 28, 1864, when he was given leave of absence for sixty days on the surgeon's certificate of disability, and then returned to Wheeling, W. Va. He was mustered out Octo- ber 3, 1864, on account of disability. One ball that entered his body in the battle was extracted from his thigh in 1892; another ball he still car- ries in his other thigh; while a ball that entered his side was taken out from beneath his shoulder blade by a surgeon in the Confederate army. He received a flesh wound in the left leg and was shot twice in the right hand.

While Mr. Scott was in the army his parents had removed to Iowa, and there he joined them on being discharged from the service. He was still far from well, and his wounds troubled him for several years. With a desire to complete his education, he entered Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa, where he remained for two years. Later he took a complete course in a commercial college. From 1868 to 1873 he engaged in the mercantile business in Iowa, and in June of the latter year he came to Colorado, where he was

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employed in a Denver dry goods house until the spring of 1875, the time of his removal to the San Juan country.

Settling at the present site of Ouray in Aug- ust, 1875, Mr. Scott erected the first cabin within the town limits and located several mining claims, among which was the Grandview and Ophir. At the first municipal election held in the town of Ouray in April, 1877, he was elected town clerk. In 1880 he was made a commissioner of Ouray County. He has made mining, ranch- ing and merchandising his principal pursuits. In 1878 he bought a ranch ten miles from Ouray, and there he engaged in raising hay for ten years, when he sold the place. From 1881 to 1890 he engaged in the drug business in Ouray, and after 1890 was interested in a machine shop for the repairing and sale of mining machinery. He owns three hundred and sixty acres, com- prising a grain and stock ranch in the central part of the county, and this property he leases. He is also largely interested in real estate in the city of Ouray.

Politically Mr. Scott votes the Republican ticket in national affairs, but is independent in local elections. He was elected mayor of the city of Ouray at the election held April 4, 1899. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and has passed all the chairs in the blue lodge, chapter and com- mandery. October 24, 1882, he married Alice L., daughter of A. J. Sparks, of Del Norte, Colo., but a native of Bureau County, Il1. They have two daughters, Louise and Helen.

AMUEL G. PORTER is engaged in the wholesale flour, grain and coal business at Victor, being general manager of the Victor Supply Company, which was incorporated in March, 1896, and carries on a large business, aggregating $200,000 in annual sales. The officers of the company are as follows: James R. Porter, president; H. E. Johnson, vice-president; J. K. Mullen, of Denver, treasurer; C. L. Smith, secretary; and Samuel G. Porter, general man- ager.

The president of the company, who is the father of our subject, was born in Ohio in 1828. During the California gold excitement of 1849 he went to the Pacific coast, where he remained for a time, later returning to Ohio. In 1857 he re- moved to Nebraska and settled at Plattsmouth, where his son, Samuel G., was born March 15, 1865. In an early day he engaged in freighting

to the Rocky Mountains. At the time of his re- moval to Nebraska, it was still a territory, and 10 railroad had as yet been built west of the Missouri. His experiences in those pioneer times were thrilling. When he began freighting he had a train of oxen, with which he hauled produce into Colorado and Wyoming. After- ward he also established a mule train, in addition to his ox train, and was one of the largest and most successful freighters of his day. While he had frequent encounters with Indians, he never lost a white man.

In 1867 Mr. Porter successfully carried out the relief of the imprisoned soldiers at Fort Phil Kearney. The fort had been attacked by Indians, who had killed some of the soldiers, while they besieged the survivors of the garrison. The gov- ernment relief trains had been unable to reach the fort, and the Indians, having killed many and inflicted a great deal of damage upon property, were in the first flush of victory, and ready for any desperate deed. After the failure in attempted relief by the government trains, Mr. Porter went under special contract with the government, to secure the release of the men and stock at the fort, and he successfully executed the difficult task. Notwithstanding their number Mr. Por- ter forced his way in and saved the day, after numerous engagements and being corralled for twenty-one days in one spot. Although his con- tract provided for reimbursement, his loss of $125,000 has never been settled by the govern- ment, although he accomplished the desired result. In this engagement he used repeating rifles, he having been the first to equip his train with this style of rifle. At the peace conference at North Platte, in 1876, Red Cloud, who was in the fight at the fort, told Mr. Porter that "The white man lay on his belly, fought like a badger and his gun was loaded all the time," it being the chief's first experience in fighting against a force equipped with repeaters. He had just cause to believe in their results, for four hundred Indians were killed in the battle.

After having successfully accomplished the relief of the fort, Mr. Porter was requested by the government to leave the fort in good con- dition for the winter. He made a contract to supply the fort with wood for the winter. During the fulfillment of this contract the Indians assembled in great numbers, and in the well- planned battle that followed, they made open cavalry charges. They succeeded in taking the

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entire train, driving off all of the stock and destroying the property belonging to the train. However, it cost them no less than four hundred lives. It was estimated by the white men en- gaged that there were 110 less than three thousand Indians in the fight. Though they were forced to abandon their property, the white men found shelter in the fort and succeeded, with the aid of the soldiers, in driving off the Indians with small loss to the whites.

In 1872 Mr. Porter accompanied General Crook into Arizona, on a mission to pacify the Navajo Indians. After three years he settled in Omaha, Neb., and there engaged in business until 1882, when he moved his family to the southwestern part of Nebraska, adjoining the Colorado line, establishing a ranch where he has since engaged in the stock business and in mer- chandising. In public affairs he has always been interested and active, voting the Democratic ticket at all elections, local or national. When Nebraska was admitted to the Union he was nominated by the Democrats for governor of the new state.

Educated in Omaha, our subject carried on the study of German in the German Catholic school, and gained a good education. When the family moved to western Nebraska, he took charge of the mercantile business in which his father en- gaged. In 1886, in connection with his father and Harmon Brothers of Omaha, he built a manu- factory in Denver. In 1894 he came to Victor and started his present business, in which line he was the pioneer. He was among the first to buy property in this part of the town, and erected a warehouse at No. 606 North Fourth street. From time to time the business has been enlarged, until it is now the most extensive of its kind in the place. In 1895 a branch was started in Cripple Creek.

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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 192

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