Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 193

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 193

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Following his father's example, Mr. Porter takes as deep an interest in public affairs as in business, and keeps himself posted concerning national issues, voting the Democratic ticket in both state and national elections, but in local affairs supporting the best man. In the councils of the Democratic party he is a local leader. He is a young man of superior ability, and the suc- cess with which he has already met is but the precursor of future honors and successes. In 1889 he married Lillie C. Foote, of Connecticut, daughter of Capt. Ralph C. Foote, and they and their daughter, Celeste, reside in the comfortable

residence at No. 603 Granite avenue, which he erected in 1894.

HOMAS R. HOFFMIRE, who has been a member of the bar of La Junta since 1890 and attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad since 1894, is one of the well-known attorneys of Otero County. Much of his life has been spent in the west. Born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Feb- ruary 2, 1863, he was a child of seven years when the family removed to Abilene, Kan., and there his boyhood days were passed in the acquirement of an education. Graduating from school in 1881, he came at once to Colorado, where for two years he taught in La Plata County near Pagosa Springs. In 1883 and 1884 he held the position of under-sheriff of La Plata County. Going to Durango, Colo., he was there employed as chief of police in 1885 and 1886, while 1887 was spent mainly in mining in or near Silverton.

Meantime Mr. Hoffmire had devoted consider- able time to the study of law. Coming to La Junta in 1888 he continued his readings and in 1890 was admitted to the bar in Pueblo. Since then he has engaged in the practice of law. In 1891 he received appointment as deputy prosecu- ting attorney for the tenth judicial district, which position also made him public prosecutor of the county. He continued in this capacity until Jan- uary 1, 1898. He is attorney for the La Junta State Bank and for a number of prominent busi- ness men of his town. His attention is largely given to criminal law practice. In 1891 he mar- ried Miss Josephine Patterson, a resident of La Junta, and sister of Captain Patterson, of the Fourteenth United States Regiment of Volun- teers.

Politically Mr. Hoffmire is a Republican. The party, recognizing his ability, and desiring his services in offices of trust, has frequently selected him as its nominee for positions of honor. For four years he held the office of city attorney, and in 1896 he was nominated to represent the second congressional district in congress. During cam- paign times for the past six years he has "stumped" the state, as his party's standard- bearer, and, as a member of the executive com- mittee of the state central committee, has been one of five to plan and take charge of political campaigns. In this work his gift of oratory has been of the greatest assistance to the cause he supports. He is a fluent speaker, with the tact to gain his learers' attention and the ability to

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arouse their attention and hold their interest un- flagging. Nor has this been a cultivated art, for when in school he always won the prizes for speak- ing, and he can scarcely recall the time when it was difficult for him to find appropriate words in addressing an audience. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Elks in Pueblo, and is a member of La Junta Lodge No. 28, K. of P., also belongs to the grand lodge of the state. He owns one of the oldest ranches in the county, a place of one hundred and sixty acres, lying four miles east of this place, on the Fort Lyon canal, and upon which good improvements have been made.

JOSIAH F. SMITH. In the entire city of Pueblo, with its thousands of inhabitants, there is no one (unless possibly one gentle- man be excepted) who has resided here for so long a period as the subject of this sketch. It was in May, 1858, that he arrived on the present site of the city, in company with eight men. At the mouth of Fountain Creek he established a trading post. Indians were very numerous and roamed at will over the surrounding plains. There were also many Mexicans, whose language Mr. Smith soon learned to use with fluency. During the months that followed, much of his time was spent in hunting game, and as he was an expert marksman, he succeeded in supplying himself and others with all the meat necessary for table use.

Almost the whole life of Mr. Smith has been spent upon the frontier. However, the first nine- teen years he spent in Dayton, Ohio, where he was born September 3, 1829, and where his father, Oliver Smith, a native of Vermont, en- gaged in the mercantile business until his death in 1840, at fifty-four years. There were ten sons in the family. All attained years of maturity and each gained prominence in his own commu- nity. On coming west, our subject spent one winter at Fort Laramie, Wyo., where he engaged in trapping and hunting. From there he went to California over the old Spanish trail, and en- gaged in mining at Sherlock's Gulch and Mari- posa for a year. Next he engaged in trapping and trading among the Indians in Washington Territory. In the spring of 1858 he went down the Missouri River in a small boat, traveling thirty-five hundred miles, to St. Louis. From there he proceeded to Colorado and established a trading post where East Pueblo 110w stands. In 1859 there was a large influx of immigration to

this locality, and in the fall of that year he sold his trading post and returned east.

After his marriage, in the spring of 1860, to Annie Badgley, of Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, Mr. Smith again came west, this time joining the miners at California Gulch (now Leadville), where he spent the summer in mining on Cash Creek. Returning to Pueblo County, he pre- empted one hundred and sixty acres, which now forms a part of the city of Pueblo. Here for two seasons he farmed, hunted and sold game. In 1863 he was appointed deputy United States marshal under A. C. Hunt, who was United States marshal, and this position he filled for four years. During four months of 1865 he had charge of the United States. prison at Denver. During almost the entire time since the spring of 1859 he has served as justice of the peace, and from 1880 to 1886 he was police judge, it being the law at that time that a police judge must also be a justice of the peace. When not occu- pied with official duties, he engaged in mining and prospecting in the mountains, where he owned some good claims. In 1865, on the Re- publican ticket, he was elected sheriff of Pueblo County, but resigned one year later, in order to accept the position of foreman of a large ranch where Mexican help was employed. In the spring of 1898 he retired from the office of justice of the peace and since then he has had no business cares, except those connected with the management of his property. The greater part of his one hun- dred and sixty acres he sold at a good price, but, unfortunately, has lost a large part of his money through the endorsement of notes for friends.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith became the parents of four children: Hattie F., wife of A. R. Bartholo- mew, of Pueblo; Lois, who became the wife of E. A. Bartholomew, but died at thirty years of age, leaving two daughters, who reside with their grandparents Smith; Frank, who is a member of the First Colorado Regiment, now in service in Manila; and Solomon P., who is with his parents.

M RS. ISABEL MOORE. The influence which woman may wield for good, in the advancement of educational institutions, in the realm of literature and art, as well as in the every day amenities of life, finds a fitting illustra- tion in the career of Mrs. Moore, who is one of the most prominent and popular women of Ouray County. A resident of the city of Ouray since 1882, she has become well known for her wide

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scope of knowledge, her acute reasoning powers, keen discernment and business ability, as well as for the gentle manners and sweet womanliness that are usual feminine attributes.

A descendant of seven generations of worthy New York state ancestors, and a daughter of Israel S. and Mary (Andrews) Lynch, the sub- ject of this narrative was born in Norwich, N. Y. When she was eight years of age her parents moved to Kansas, where she was educated in grammar and high schools, and later was a stu- dent in the Normal School in Albany, N. Y. Iu 1884 she became the wife of Albert Moore, their marriage being solemnized in Ouray, to which city she had come in the early part of the same year, while Mr. Moore had settled here in 1876. He was born and reared in Cincinnati, a son of Hugh Moore, who was born in Scotland and was for several years captain of a steamboat on the Mississippi River. When a young man, Mr. Moore came to Colorado, after a brief sojourn in Lawrence, Kan. At once settling in Ouray, he engaged in the hardware business here for sev- eral years, and for two terms served as post- master. In this place his death occurred August 13, 1886. He left, besides his wife, a daughter, Eleanor.

In 1893, on the Populist ticket, Mrs. Moore was elected treasurer of Ouray County, and filled the office for two terms. Since then she has held the position of county superintendent of schools. For this office she is well qualified by natural gifts and by education. Her practical experience as a teacher in New York state, where every modern equipment has been adopted and the best methods of instruction used, has enabled her to work in educational circles with commendable success. She labors industriously to advance the interests of the county schools, to increase their usefulness and enlarge their equipments, and her work in this line has met the approval of those best qualified to judge its merits.

In the organization of the Woman's Club of Ouray, Mrs. Moore took an active part, and she has since been enthusiastic in its work. Es- pecially has she been active in securing the or- ganization of a public library, for her connection with schools has shown her that much depends upon the quality of the books read by the young. The library was started under the auspices of the Woman's Club, and by means of personal contributions and entertainments has been sup- ported by them, Mrs. Moore acting as librarian.

She gives careful attention to the works chosen, selecting that which is loftiest and best in history, science, fiction and romance, and endeavoring to promote, among the young, a love for good literature. Mrs. Moore was the presiding officer in the Woman's Federation of Labor, the first organization of the kind in the United States. In addition to her other interests, she is actively identified with the Daughters of Rebekah, and at this writing is an officer in the State As- sembly of the order.

NDREW J. THOMPSON, county judge of Montrose County, was born in Hamilton

- County, Ohio, December 9, 1815, a son of Bernard and Mary (Phillips) Thompson. His grandfather, Bernard Thompson, Sr., was a large land and mill owner, having extensive properties on the Potomac River in Virginia, and during the Revolutionary war he served as colonel of a regiment; his brother, Charles, was private sec- retary to George Washington. Our subject's father, who served in the war of 1812, was given, in part return for his services, a land warrant in Morgan County, Ill., and removing to Illinois in 1834, engaged in farming and the millwright's trade, entering upon his own land a few years later. Of his ten children our subject is the sole survivor.

When the family moved to Illinois, Mr. Thomp- son was a young man of nineteen years. Two years before this he had been apprenticed to the carriage-maker's trade at Newton, Ohio, a town eight miles from Cincinnati. At the same time he had also begun to read law. During his resi- dence in Illinois le engaged in his trade and also in the profession of law for some years, afterward also acquiring farm interests, and carrying on a mill and a store. He remained in Illinois until 1888, when he came to Colorado and settled in Montrose County, purchasing a farm here.

August 29, 1839, Mr. Thompson married Mary J. Whittaker, with whom he has passed nearly sixty years of happy wedded life. They became the parents of ten children. Of these, Laura is the wife of Levi Wilmot, a farmer residing at Hotchkiss, Delta County, Colo .; Emma married Milton Ingleman, a merchant and miner living at Canon City, Colo .; Lewis C. is deceased; Julia is the wife of Samuel A. Ingleman, of Montrose; Eva married James F. Rogers, a merchant at Canon City; Leona is Mrs. John R. Miller, of Ridgway; Frank L., who is a talented musician,

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is also a mining expert and has recently invented a machine for reducing and separating ores; Charles, a farmer, resides in Montrose; Edward is an instructor in music at Farmington, N. M .; and Harry is an attorney at the same place.

The first vote of our subject was cast in 1836 for Martin Van Buren, and since then (a period of sixty-three years) he has never failed to vote at every county election. During his residence in Illinois, he was an active worker in the Demo- cratic party, and for eight years he, was a justice of the peace there. In 1842 he was appointed postmaster of Bethel, Il1., and was continued in dition. During this expedition our subject was that position under thirteen presidents, with only one interval of three years. Upon the occasion of his final retirement from the office he was no- tified that there was over $100 due him, on ac- count of some change in the postal regulations. For four years he was judge of Morgan County. In 1874 he was elected to the Illinois legislature and served for one term. Shortly after coming to Montrose County he was elected county judge, which position he has since held, a period of nine years, or three terms. Since 1847 he has been connected with the Odd Fellows, and is past noble grand of the lodge. His first attendance uponi the grand lodge of Illinois (which was held in Springfield) was in 1851, and afterward he was fourteen times elected a delegate to the grand lodge. In 1851 he received the Rebekah degree.

AMUEL P. VANATTA, who is engaged in the practice of law at Cripple Creek, was born twelve miles west of Pittsburg, Alle- gheny County, Pa., March 5, 1831. His boy- hood days were spent upon a farm and in attend- ance upon a country school. At eighteen years of age he secured a position as teacher of a dis- trict school, receiving $12 per month in compen- sation for his services. After teaching in his na- tive county for one term he went to Columbiana County, Olio, and there taught school. During his leisure hours, for two years, he read law with a firm in New Lisbon: In that town he was ad- mitted to the bar May 9, 1853. He opened an office and began to practice in New Lisbon, but some eighteen months later removed to Logan, Ohio, where he carried on a general practice for four years.

In 1860 Mr. Vanatta removed as far west as Iowa, settling in Vinton, where he built up a good practice in his profession. During his resi- dence there, in July, 1862, he enlisted as a pri-

vate in Company D, Twenty-eighth Iowa In- fantry, and was at once elected captain of his com- pany. The soldiers were mustered into service on the 10th of October, and rendezvoused at Iowa City, thence went down the Mississippi and were stationed at Helena, Ark. In January, 1863, they went upon the White River expedition, thence proceeded to Vicksburg and participated in the siege of that city. Afterward they were ordered to Black River to meet Gen. Joe John- ston, thence marched to New Orleans, and with General Banks took part in the Red River expe- taken ill and sent to a hospital in New Orleans, where he remained for three months. He was then honorably discharged on account of disabil- ity. Returning home, six months later he was appointed enrolling commissioner of Benton County, Iowa, and while acting in this capacity enlisted between six and seven hundred men in the county.

After the war Mr. Vanatta continued to prac- tice in Vinton. In September, 1876, he removed to Sioux City, the same state, where he practiced in connection with his son, John K., and gained a wide reputation as a criminal lawyer. Four years were spent there and a similar period in Lincoln, Neb., after which he went to Cass County to look after a large tax-title property. He succeeded in winning his case, although he was contested for seven years. He was recog- nized as an authority on tax-title in the state. Going to Council Bluffs, Iowa, he looked after his property interests in that city for two years, after which he spent eight months in Nebraska City, Neb. In December, 1896, he came to Cripple Creek, where he has since made his home. On account of deafness, he does not practice in the courts, but gives his attention principally to his civil and real-estate practice.

The marriage of Mr. Vanatta, September 4, 1852, united him with Miss Mary H. Jordan, of Columbiana County, Ohio. They became the parents of six sons and four daughters, of whom three of the daughters are deceased. The oldest son, John K., a prominent attorney of Colorado Springs, is represented elsewhere in this volume; Edward G. is a lawyer at Eldora, Colo .; William D. is engaged in contracting and building at Gold- field, this state; James H. is a contractor and builder in Colorado City; Samuel P., Jr., is an extensive farmer of Lincoln County, state of Washington; Charles A., the youngest son, is cor-

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poral of Company M, First Colorado Infantry, now in Manila; Eva is the wife of John Carriher, of Grand Forks, B. C.

Mr. Vanatta was made an Odd Fellow in Vin- ton, Iowa, in 1864. He was first identified with the Grand Army of the Republic in Lincoln, Neb., and is now connected with M. W. Anderson Post of Cripple Creek. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. While he has never sought office, he has been quite active in local politics and has always supported the candidates of the Republican party.

OHN UGLOW, representative of Hinsdale and San Juan Counties in the state legisla- ture, and editor of the Lake City Phono- graph, was born in Palmyra, Wis., October 12, 1859, a son of John and Elizabeth (Jolliffe) Ug- low, natives of England. His father, who came to America in early life, settled in Wisconsin and continued to reside there until his death in 1873. By occupation he was a merchant. Of his family of seven children all but two are still living. Mary is the wife of John Garbutt, of Darien, Wis. John was second in order of birth; Luther is a business man of Palmyra, Wis .; and William H. is engaged in the furniture business there; Clara W. is a teacher in the seminary at Evansville, Wis.

At fourtéen years of age our subject went from Palmyra to Winneconne, Wis., where he became an apprentice on the Winneconne Item. He learned the printer's trade, remaining for eight- een months with the same paper, after which he was employed on the Oshkosh Independent, and later was connected with other newspapers in Wisconsin. He went to Minneapolis in 1880 and for fourteen years worked in the composing room of the Daily Tribune. In December, 1894, he came to Colorado. After a short sojourn in Colorado Springs he settled in Lake City, pur- chasing the Phonograph, which he has since con- ducted. Under his control the paper has been a stanch Populist organ, supporting the men and measures of that party. Established in 1875, it was published under the name of the Silver World until 1889, when the title was changed to the Phonograph. It is a bright and newsy sheet, filled with local happenings, as well as matters of general interest.

For six years Mr. Uglow was secretary of the Typographical Union, and for one year served as its president; in 1893 he was chosen its delegate

to the convention of the International Associa- tion held in Chicago. For years he has been a firm friend of the silver cause and an active worker in the People's party. During his resi- dence in Minneapolis he was the Populist can- didate for city treasurer. In the year 1895 he was appointed city clerk of Lake City, which of- fice he has since held. In 1898 he was elected justice of the peace and police magistrate, and in the fall of the same year was elected to the state legislature, receiving a fair majority on the Pop- ulist ticket. The principal industry of Hinsdale County (mining) has received more or less atten- tion from him ever since he came to the west. He has not only kept in touch with mines and min- ing, but has invested personally in them. He is connected with the Gold Pick, Lode Star, and or- ganized the Pomeroy Gold Mining and Milling Company. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen. June 11, 1884, he married Nellie Beggs, daugh- ter of James Beggs, who served as a lieutenant during the Civil war. They are the parents of two daughters, Florence aud Nettie.

A DDISON MORRELL WRENCH, cashier of the First National Bank of Telluride, was born in New York state in 1867, a son of B. L. and Mary E. (Champion) Wrench, natives respectively of England and New York. His father, who during his active life has been a suc- cessful business man, is still residing at York- ville, the old family home. In the family there are five children: Bernard L., living in Whites- boro, N. Y .; A. M .; Carrie; George P., a busi- ness man of Cleveland, Ohio; and Raymond C., who is with his parents.

Educated in public schools in New York, in 1886 Mr. Wrench came west and for one year was manager of the St. Paul Rubber Company, of St. Paul, Minn. From Minnesota he came to Colo- rado in 1888, and settling in Telluride, began the study of law under L. L. Nunn. In 1889 he took a course in Colorado College. Afterward he returned east, where he visited for a short time, coming back to Telluride in 1890, and ac- cepting a position as assistant cashier of the old San Miguel Valley State Bank. In the latter part of the same year the bank was merged into the First National Bank, of which he has been cashier since July 24, 1897. Previons to accept- ing the cashiership he engaged in the real-estate

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and loan business in Telluride, and this he still carries on, besides discharging his duties as cash- ier. Since the organization of the bank he has been one of its directors. The business of the bank is carried on in a building erected especially for the purpose, and the finest bank building west of Pueblo.

In addition to his position as cashier and his duties in connection with the purchase and sale of real estate, Mr. Wrench was interested with L. L. Nunn in the erection of an electric plant in Utah. In 1894 he assisted in the organization of the Telluride Board of Trade, of which he was afterward treasurer for some years. He is inter- ested in mining, and is connected with the Tellu- ride Power and Transmission Company, of which L. L. Nunn is manager. As a Republican he takes a warm interest in politics, and is in sym- pathy with the principles for which his party stands. I11 1892 he married Minnie M. Wood, of New Hartford, N. Y., by whom he has a son, Addison W. During the years of his residence in Telluride he has witnessed its growth from a camp of one thousand people to a prosperous city, with water works, electric lights, and all the con- veniences of modern life.

OHN M. MAXWELL, who is recognized as one of the ablest attorneys of Leadville, also president and treasurer of the Leadville Abstract Company, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1849, a son of George M. and Martha (Mills) Maxwell. His father was a prominent minister of the Presbyterian denomination, an educator of national reputation and was for many years presi- dent of the Lane Theological Seminary of Cin- cinnati, Ohio. He was a member of a family that removed from Connecticut to Ohio in an early day.

The maternal grandfather of our subject, Col. John Mills, was an active business man of Mari- etta, Ohio, for many years president of a bank at that place, also president of the Marietta chair factory there, and one of the builders of the first railroad from Marietta to Cincinnati. He was one of the founders of Marietta College, from which his son-in-law, Rev. George M. Maxwell, and the latter's three sons graduated. Colonel Mills married Deborah Wilson, the great-grand- daughter of Maj .- Gen. Joseph Spencer, who was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and was appointed in April, 1775, by special act of con- gress, as brigadier-general, which position he

held until promoted. He was present at the siege of Boston and accompanied the troops to New York City. August 9, 1776, he was commissioned major-general, and placed in command of a divi- sion commanded by Parsons and Wadsworth. He organized an expedition of nine thousand state troops that marched against the British forces at Newport. At East Haddam, Conn., where he was born in 1714, his eyes closed to the light in 1789. Martha (Mills) Maxwell, the mother of the subject of this sketch, is the daugh- ter of Deborah (Wilson) Mills, the granddaugh- ter of Martha Brainard (Spencer) Wilson, the great-granddaughter of Gen. Joseph Spencer, a surgeon of the Revolutionary war, and the great-great-granddaughter of Maj .- Gen. Joseph Spencer, an officer of the Revolutionary war, as above stated.

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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 193

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