Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 21

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 21

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The father of our subject, William Booco, came west in 1879 and is now a well-to-do ranch- man at Wolcott, Eagle County. He is the grand- son of the founder of the family in this country, a Frenchman who accompanied Lafayette to this country and aided that famons general in liberat- ing the colonies from their bondage to England. The mother of our subject was Margaret G. Gwinnnp, who had three brothers that enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war and two died while fighting for the government. The paternal grandmother of George G. Booco was a sister of General Sherman.

which time he has voted with the Populists and worked in their interests. He is deeply inter- ested in educational affairs and has rendered able service as a member of the Minturn school board.

M RS. EVA MYRA BOOCO, superintendent of the public schools of Eagle County, and wife of George G. Booco, was born in Keokuk, Iowa, a member of a southern family that owned large numbers of slaves, besides val- uable plantations. Her father, Henry Halloway Slaughter, was born in Virginia, to which com- monwealth his ancestors had emigrated with the colonists of Jamestown. He was related to Gov- ernor Slaughter, at one time chief executive of New York state. In spite of the fact that his family were mostly southerners and slave-owners, he took his stand on the side of the Union. Re- ceiving a number of slaves as his share in the family estate, he took them to Iowa and set them free. For this act he was severely censured by other members of the family. The freeing of the slaves left him a poor man, and when he started in business it was without capital. He opened a dry-goods store in Farmington, Iowa, and by industry and good management accumulated a competence.

The marriage of H. H. Slaughter united him with Mary Denny, whose ancestors crossed the ocean from Ireland in the "Mayflower," and some of the name, in after years, became large slave holders, but she was a strong believer in the Union cause. One of her brothers was killed in the Civil war. She is still living and makes her home in Keokuk, Iowa. Of her children, Charles Henry is a wealthy man and lives in Iowa, where for years he has been connected with a hardware business; Mrs. C. L. Becker, of Keokuk, is the wife of a wholesale dealer in hard- ware; Mrs. E. V. Nixon is the wife of a wealthy stockman of Arcata, Cal .; Mrs. W. F. Dwight lives in Kansas City; Mrs. William Coombs is a resident of Lynn, Mass .; and Mrs. H. A. Becker is the wife of a hardware merchant of Keokuk.

Upon completing her education, the subject of this sketch taught for five years, after which she traveled in California and the west for two years, and then taught in the schools of Topeka, Kan., for two years. About 1885 she came to Colorado, where she began to teach in Chaffee County, and for a time was employed at Poncho Springs. She came to Minturn to accept a position in the school

In matters of politics Mr. Booco was a Demo- . crat until the People's party was organized, since here, and in this town met Mr. Booco, who was

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a member of the school board. They were mar- ried in 1891, and are the parents of a daughter, Florence Irene. Mrs. Booco is identified with the People's party and it was upon that ticket she was elected superintendent of schools of Eagle Connty in 1897, a position that her previous experience in teaching admirably quali- fies her to fill. She has given educational work considerable thought and attention and is not only gifted intellectually, but is also a logical reasoner and acute observer, and labors con- stantly to improve the conditions of the schools under her charge. She is a sincere Christian and in religious belief is a Congregationalist.

DGAR MARCELLA MARBOURG, C.E.,M.D. oculist and aurist, with office in the Pope block, Pueblo, is a descendant of families that have borne an active and prominent part in the history of our country. He represents the fourth generation of the Marbourg family that has resided in America, the first of the name in this country having been Dr. Max Marbourg, a native of the town of Marbourg, in the south of France, and a surgeon on the staff of Michel Ney, marshal of France during the Napoleonic wars. After his retirement from the army he crossed the ocean to Baltimore and from there re- moved to Pennsylvania, where he died at ninety- nine years of age.

On the maternal side, Dr. Marbourg descends from John Wright, a large land owner near Phila- delphia, where he was born. At the opening of the Revolutionary war he enlisted in the colonial army as a private and was afterward, by succes- sive promotions, made captain of a company. He served, by re-enlistment, until the close of the war. His father, William, was born on the same farm as himself, and was a son of Joseph Wright, who emigrated from Wales to Philadelphia and bought land from William Penn, July 31, 1694. Enoch, son of John Wright, was a large land owner, and his son, William, father of Mrs. Marbourg, was professor of civil engineering in a college in the east.

The doctor's father, H. W. Marbourg, M. D., was a son of Frederick Marbourg, M. D., the latter a native of Johnstown, Pa., the former of Indiana County, that state, and a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, afterward practicing in Johnstown until he perished in the memorable flood there. During the Civil war he served as surgeon in charge of the hospital department on

Roanoke Isle. It is worthy of note that seven of the Marbourg family graduated from Jefferson Medical College, and our subject represents the fourth generation of physicians. Dr. H. W. Marbourg married Wilhelmina R. Wright, who was born in Philadelphia, a daughter of William and Rachael (Lukens) Wright. Her mother was born in 1794, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Lukens, who were members of the Society of Friends and lived upon a farm near Philadel- phia. The Lukens family was founded in America in the year 1683, the first of the name in this country coming from Kreifeld on the Rhine with the Frankfort company that founded German- town, Philadelphia. Jan and Mary Lukens had a son, Peter, whose son, John, was the father of Robert Lukens. Miss Wright was reared in Phila- delphia and was a woman of rare intellectual gifts. She graduated from the Woman's Medi- cal College of Philadelphia, and engaged in prac- tice for some time, but died in early womanhood, when our subject was a child of seven years. He was the only son and was born in Philadelphia, December 10, 1864. His rudimentary education was obtained in the schools of that city. After- ward he entered the Pennsylvania Military Col- lege, from which he graduated with the degree of C. E. Later he matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College, where he continued his studies until he graduated in 1888, with the degree of M. D. During his college course and his subse- quent experience in hospital work for a year he made a specialty of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and was clinical assistant in the oph- thalmic and aural department of the Germantown hospital.

Coming to Pueblo in the spring of 1889, Dr. Marbourg has since practiced his specialties. He is now oculist and aurist for the Colorado & Southern Railroad, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, Colorado State Insane Asylum, Colo- rado Fuel and Iron Company, Colorado Smelter, Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City, Colo- rado Home for Feeble Minded, Pueblo Hospital, and is expert Examiner of Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat for the United States Pension department. In the Pueblo County, State and American Medi- cal Societies he holds membership, and he also holds membership with the alumni of the Military College and Jefferson Medical College. While in Philadelphia he was made a Mason, and is now connected with Lodge No. 17, A. F. & A. M., in Pueblo. He is also a member of the Knights of

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Pythias. His descent from Revolutionary an- cestry entitled him to membership in the Sons of the Revolution, and he is identified with the Colo- rado branch. In matters political he gives sup- port to the Republican party, and in religion is an Episcopalian, while socially he holds member- ship in the Minnequa Club.

A son, Edgar Foster Marbourg, was born April 22, 1897, to the union of Dr. Marbourg with Miss Carolyn Agnes Foster, who was born in Murfrees- boro, N. C. She is a daughter of Charles Henry Foster, who was born in Maine and married a Miss Carter, of North Carolina. During the war he was instrumental in raising the First North Carolina Infantry, of which he was chosen col- onel. Afterward he became editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia Record, with which he continued un- til his death.

ON. JOSEPH F. HUMPHREY. Not without justice Mr. Humphrey is conceded to hold an enviable position among the prominent business men of Colorado Springs. With but limited means when a young man and with no influence to help him along except his own good name and upright conduct-with these, and by the exercise of business judgment and force of will-he has steadily arisen until he now occupies a position of marked consideration among the citizens of Colorado Springs.

This branch of the Humphrey family was founded in America by Charles Humphrey, who was born, of Welsh descent, in the north of Ire- land, his parents having removed there from Wales. They were Protestants and bore a part in the religious wars of their day. On his emi- gration to America he settled in Virginia in 1757, where he engaged in farming. He and a brother took part in the Revolutionary war. His son, David, was born in what is now Ohio County, W. Va , and later became a pioneer of Jefferson County, Ohio. Afterward settled near Bellefon- taine, Logan County, where he died in 1870, at the age of almost eighty-seven years. In religion he was a strict Presbyterian.

Robert Young Humphrey, son of David Hum- phrey, and father of our subject, was born near Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio, and in early life engaged in clerking in Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio, and also taught school in Brown County, where he married. Later he taught in Adams County, and also owned a tannery near Rome, where for some years he served as just- .

ice of the peace. Afterward, with a brother, he ran a machine shop in Bellefontaine. He was employed as superintendent of machinery at Bellefontaine for the Bee Line (now the Big Four) and continued to live in that city until his death, when in his seventy-first year. Frater- nally he was a master, chapter and council Mason. For some time he served as township trustee. His wife, who was Rachel Fulton, a native of Kentucky, was a daughter of Joseph Fulton, who was born in Virginia, of Scotch descent. Among the relatives of the family was the illustrious inventor, Robert Fulton. In an early day Joseph Fulton removed to Kentucky and settled near Maysville, where he engaged in the milling business. He then removed to Brown County, Ohio, where he engaged in milling. He died there at eighty-seven years of age. His daugh- ter, Rachel, died in Ohio when in her seventy- sixth year. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters, of whom seven attained maturity, and five are living, our subject being the eldest. His only living brother is Robert G., of Pueblo.

Near Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, the subject of this article was born March 14, 1839. At the age of thirteen he accompanied the family from Adams County to Bellefontaine, where he at- tended the high school. When fifteen he began to learn the machinist's trade in his father's shop. In 1856 he went to Gallion, Ohio, where for a year he worked in railroad shops, complet- ing his trade. Another year was spent as a jour- neyman there, after which he spent two years in Zanesville, in the Central Ohio Railroad shops, and was foreman of the construction gang. Go- ing south in 1860, he was employed in the machine shops at Holly Springs, Miss., and, when the foreman left, was promoted to that position, remaining there until June, 1862. At the opening of the war the proprietor of the shops prepared machinery for the manufacture of guns. When the Federal army began to march south toward Holly Springs the machinery was removed to Atlanta and he was given transpor- tation there, but decided he would either go north or attempt to escape through the lines. After a trip to the plantation of Captain Barney, he met a conductor, Thomas Fletcher, on the Mississippi Central Railroad, who, surmising that Mr. Humphrey wished to get north, kindly assisted 'him in his preparations for getting through the lines. By the time the Union forces

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had left Memphis and started toward Holly Springs, he was enabled to walk into their lines, reaching there about six o'clock in the morning, after walking thirty miles. Among the members of an Ohio regiment he found a number of his boy hood acquaintances; also Col. C. W. Fisher, a friend of his father, and at that time provost- marshal of La Grange, Tenn., where the army was stationed; later superintendent of construc- tion of the Denver Pacific Railroad, when Mr. Humphrey met him in Cheyenne, Wyo.

In the fall of 1865, while in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Humphrey met Captain Barney and Mr. McIlvain, with whom he had been associated in Holly Springs. He accepted their offer to return to the south, and went to Irondale, near Birming- ham, Ala. There he met General Webster, with whom he had become acquainted during the war, in Memphis, and who was superintendent of mil- itary railroads. General Webster became inter- ested in the works and made trips with Mr. Humphrey for machinery, which was shipped to Alabama. In 1868 Mr. Humphrey resigned and returned north. Until 1870 he engaged in trav- eling and railroad work. Early in that year he graduated from Bryant & Stratton's Commercial

After recuperating for a day in La Grange, Mr. Humphrey went with the army to Memphis. The entire country was filled with Confederate cavalry. The Federal troops stopped at La Fayette to await supplies from Memphis, being . College at Cincinnati, then came to Colorado and on quarter rations. The next day Mr. Hum- was for two years employed by the Denver Pacific Railroad as chief clerk in the auditor's and pay- master's departments. During that time he was associated with his friend, Col. C. W. Fisher, then superintendent of the Denver & Pacific Rail- road. He went to Denver June 23, 1870, on the first passenger train run on that road. He was afterward chief clerk, then general accountant and paymaster of the road. When the road was pur- chased by the Kansas Pacific in 1872, he was offered a position in Kansas City, but declined, not caring to return east. When the Denver & Rio Grande was completed to Colorado Springs he came to this city as chief clerk in the auditor's department, remaining until 1878, when he re- signed to become assistant cashier of the First National Bank, of which he was afterward a di- rector. I11 1879 he was made cashier of the bank, which position he filled until 1882. Meantime he had been instrumental in organizing the Colorado Springs Gas and Coke Company, of which he was a director, and, after 1882, general manager and president, until the works were sold to Professor Lowe. Afterward he was secretary of the Lowe Gas and Electric Light Company, until the bond- holders foreclosed in the fall of 1893 and took the property into their own hands. The Colorado Springs Gas and Electric Light Company was then organized, and he has since been its secretary and treasurer, and one of its directors. From 1878 to 1880 he was interested in the Robert E. Lee mine at Leadville, but sold his interest in 1882. He is now a director in the Cripple Creek Con- solidated Mining Company. With Irving How- bert and B. F. Crowell, in 1880, he built the opera house block, the first three-story brick in the city. Mr. Humphrey, Irving Howbert and phrey started with a companion and rode through in a sutler's wagon, stopping nine miles from Memphis for dinner. General Grant with his staff halted for a little rest at this point before proceeding to Memphis. The Confederates, not recognizing him, made no attempt to stop his progress, as they were anxious to capture a large wagon train of supplies that had been sent from Memphis to the soldiers. On the morning of the next day they captured the wagon train and escort and a railroad train at Germantown; also some prisoners. Our subject and Mr. Richardson, his companion, proceeded by steamer to St. Louis, where they remained for three weeks. On re- ceiving word that his trunk and shotgun had reached home, he went to Ohio and visited his relatives for a few months. Meanwhile Mr. Richardson had secured work in the navy yard at Carondelet, St. Louis, and in the fall of 1862 our subject joined him there. He was employed in building gunboats until the spring of 1863, when he received an appointment as assistant engineer on the "Osage," of the Mississippi squadron, under Admiral Porter. Later he was transferred to the "Neosha." He accompanied Banks' expedition up the Red River, and after- ward sailed up and down the Mississippi and its tributaries, and participating in numerous skir- mishes. In August, 1865, he was detached from the "Neosha, and went to New Orleans on the "Ibex," returning from there to Mound City, where he was detached on leave of absence. It was his intention to remain in the navy, but the war having closed he decided to resign, and was honorably discharged November 18, 1865, after a service of nearly three years.

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others were the promoters of the Colorado Mid- lawns, which are now among the most beautiful land Railroad, Mr. Humphrey being elected the in the state. He served for two terms as mayor. In 1896 he was a presidential elector on the Mckinley ticket, receiving the largest vote of any one on the entire ticket in the state. first president of the organization, afterwards its auditor. He has also been part owner of the Humphrey & Summers subdivision and the Rouse, Liller & Humphrey subdivision.

In Ohio Mr. Humphrey married Miss Rebecca J. Miller, a double cousin of Rear-Admiral Miller. She was born near Springfield, Clarke County, Ohio, and received her education in the Spring- field female seminary. The ouly child of Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey is Robert Guy, who gradu- ated from the high school and is a member of the class of 1900, University of Colorado, where he is taking a course in electrical engineering.

The connection of Mr. Humphrey with educa- tional matters dates from an early period of his residence in Colorado Springs. In 1878 he was elected a member of the board of education, on which he served for nine years at that time, being secretary for five years and president for two years. After being off the board for four years he was re-elected for a term of five years, and later was again re-elected for the same length of time. During that time he was president for two years, also served as chairman of the finance and building committees. At the present writing he is president of the board. During his term of serv- ice of nearly twenty years almost all the school- houses in the city were erected. He was chairman of the building committee at the time of the erec- tion of the high school, the Lowell and Washing- ton schools, and the rebuilding of the Garfield school. From 1877 to 1883 he was a trustee of Colorado College, and during three years of the time served as vice-president. For six years, under appointment by Governor Routt, he served as a trustee of the Mute and Blind Institute (now the Colorado School for Deaf and Blind), but when Governor Waite became chief executive, Mr. Humphrey was removed for political rea- sons; later, under Governor McIntire, he filled a vacancy in the board of trustees for two years.

Politically a Republican, Mr. Humphrey has been active in public affairs. For one term of two years he served as an alderman, and was chairman of the committee on buildings and grounds; as such, he submitted plans to lay out parks, and planted trees, but the city funds were limited and did not permit the improvements of the grounds. When, in 1882, he was elected mayor, he turned his attention to the improve- ment of the parks and succeeded in starting the

In Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1862, Mr. Humphrey was made a Mason, and he is still a member of the chapter there; is also identified with Pike's Peak Commandery No. 6, K. T .: El Jebel Tem- ple, N. M. S., and the Consistory of Denver. He is connected with the Naval Veterans' Associa- tion. In religion he is an Episcopalian and has acted as a vestryman in his church. He has a comfortable home at No. 122 Platte avenue. For years he has been one of the most prominent and enterprising citizens of Colorado Springs, and his assistance in the building of schoolhonses, beau- tifying of parks and introducing of other public improvements, entitle him to high rank among the public-spirited citizens of the place.

HOMAS N. DALL. Prominent in the civil and mining engineering circles of Colorado stands the name of Mr. Dall, whose reputa- tion in this line of work is of the highest. While he makes his home in Denver and has his office in the Arapahoe building in that city, much of his time is spent in Hinsdale County, where he first came in 1897 to take charge of the mining property of Austin G. Gorham, Esq., of Denver, and has since acquired property of his own here.

A native of Lancashire, England, born July 9, 1858, Mr. Dall is the second son of George Dall. and a member of an honored family that for sev- eral hundred years was prominently identified with Scotland and Lancashire. He received col- legiate advantages in England, and there ac- quired a thorough knowledge of mining and civil engineering, which occupation he followed for some twenty years in his native country. In 1894 he came to the United States. For his work in this country he was admirably qualified by his practical experience in England, where he had been interested in many important contracts.

After devoting a year to engineering in Colo- rado, in 1895 Mr. Dall returned to England, where he interested capitalists in the investment of money in the United States. In 1896 he went again to England, where he sold further Colorado interests. Upon again coming to Colorado he erected a twenty-stamp mill at Ice Lake Basin, San Juan County, Colo., and with a partner set it in operation. Since 1897, as before stated, he

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has been identified with mining property in Lowell, Mass. William A. is engaged in min- Hinsdale and Chaffee Counties. He is a large ing and milling in northern California; and Ever- ett P., who is a traveling salesman, resides in Oakland, Cal. stockholder in the George III. mine at Carson, fifteen miles from Lake City, in which he has been interested since the re-organization of the company operating it. One of his chief works has been in connection with the Wyoming Land, Iron and Coal Company, which was organized for the purpose of opening up iron and coal mines in Wyoming. He opened and developed the Golden Rule mine, which ore running produces from $20 to $500, chiefly gold. His judgment concerning mining investments is accurate and far-seeing. Keen, discriminating and cautious, he avoids reckless investments; his enthusiasm is always.held in check by his conservative judg- ment.

In matters relating to politics Mr. Dall is a firm believer in the policy of the silver branch of the Republican party. In 1898 he received the original nomination on the silver Republican ticket for senator from the eighteenth senatorial district, but a complication of affairs arose which caused the nomination to be declared void. His first wife died in England, and he was married again in that country in 1889. By the second marriage he has two children, Edith and Jessie.

Fraternally Mr. Dall is connected with the Masonic order in England. He is intensely de- voted to his chosen occupation. Much of his time is given to its study. His opinion in mat- ters connected with engineering is considered au- thoritative. Being a fluent writer, he has fre- quently been invited to contribute to scientific journals in England, and when possible for him to take the time from his other duties, he has written for these periodicals. He is a licentiate member of the Liverpool Association of Civil En- gineers of England. In 1896-97 the Mining Re- porter of Colorado published a work written by him on sanitary engineering, which ran as a serial through nine months.

M RS. SADIE H. MAXCY, county superin- tendent of public instruction for Park Coun- ty, was born in Waterford, Vt., a daughter of Thomas D. and Roancy (Hartwell) Hadley. She was one of seven children, six of whom are now living. The eldest, Ida A., resides in King- ston, Mass., and is the widow of Henry Soule, who was a direct descendant of a family that crossed in the "Mayflower." The second daugh- ter, Emily R., is the wife of C. B. Roberts, of

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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 21

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