Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 35

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 35

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and about 1770 removed to Springfield, Vt. In 1784 he was elected a member of the Vermont legislature, and again in 1792 he was honored with the same office. While he was attending the session at Rutland in 1792, he was presented with a petition signed by one hundred and ninety-five inhabitants of Springfield and vicinity, bearing date October 19, 1792, and appointing him and Abner Bisbee to select homesteads for the peti- tioners in Upper Canada, in response to a proc- lamation issued by John G. Simcoe, who was governor of that province. On his return from this mission he was taken sick and died at Sing Sing, N. Y., December 7, 1793.

Whitford Gill, son of Daniel, Jr., was born in Springfield, Vt., July 5, 1778. The old home- stead on the banks of the Connecticut River fell to him; there he built a large house in 1799 and kept tavern several years. In 1809 he moved to Montreal, Canada, where he remained for one year. He then went to Jefferson County and for many years followed the life of a sailor on the lakes, as well as a farmer. He married Betsy, daughter of Nathaniel Holden and granddaugh- ter of Col. William Holden, who was a colonel from New Hampshire in the Revolutionary war. Their son, William H., our subject's father, was born at Springfield, Vt., in the year 1807. He was but two years of age when his parents removed to Montreal, Canada, where they re- mained for a year. In 1810 they went up the St. Lawrence River to Jefferson County, N. Y., and settled at Sackett's Harbor, after spending a winter" at the mouth of the Salmon River. In 1814 they removed to Galloe Island, where his father bought a squatter's claim, and here he grew to manhood and assisted in clearing a tract of land. The timber thus secured he freighted to market in a vessel constructed by himself. He engaged in farming and shipbuilding until his death, which occurred August 31, 1869.

At the age of ten years our subject began to work for a farmer at Ellisburgh, N. Y., and afterward he devoted his summers to farming and his winters to study in school. For eighteen months he worked for a relative, doing all the chores on the farm and milking seven cows every night and morning, for which, at the end of the time, he was paid twenty-five cents! Returning to Galloe Island, he worked in a sawmill and on a farm for six years. In 1877 he came west, arriving in · Greeley, Colo., in December of that year. For four years he worked in a flouring mill in the

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winter, and rode among the cattle on round-ups during the summer, following the cattle business for ten years. Becoming proficient in the busi- ness, he was range manager of a large herd for several years. One year after his arrival here he invested his savings in a small bunch of cat- tle, for which he paid $300 and which he sold three years later for $1,300. With this money he bought one hundred head of steers, which two years later he sold for $3,200. However, his next venture was not so successful, and in 1888 he bought his present ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, to which he moved in March of that year. He has since met with success and is one of the prosperous and energetic farmers of his county. While he votes the Republican ticket, he has never been active in politics. He served on the school board and acted as road overseer for a number of years. He was also superintendent of the largest irrigating canal in Morgan County for seven years.

October 19, 1883, Mr. Gill married Miss Jennie Gannett, of Galloe Island, who died in March, 1887, leaving a son, Arthur, now a student in the school at Greeley. July 14, 1892, Mr. Gill was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Plowhead, a. native of Greeley, Colo., and a daughter of John H. and Amelia S. Plowhead. Her parents were born near Berne, Switzerland, and came to Amer- ica in 1852. Mr. Plowhead crossed the plains to California, where he spent two years in successful mining. On his return east he took his wife and crossed the plains to St. Louis in 1856. Later he went to Falls River, Neb., and in 1864 came to Colorado, settling on the delta near Greeley. Their daughter, Mrs. Gill, was given good advan- tages in girlhood and is a woman of exceptional ability. She has served efficiently as a member of the school board, and has also taken an active part in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Gill are the parents of two children, Jennie A. and Frank L.

ILLIAM A. TAYLOR is the oldest sur- viving settler of Telluride. In 1880 he came west from Chicago, intending to look over mining property in the interests of the Gold- en Group Mining Company. At that time Tel- luride was reached by trail from Ophir. He made the long trip westward by steam car and stage, landing July 3 of that year at a small stage station in a beautiful valley. In the place there were then three or four log cabins and one franie

building, certainly not a favorable omen of the future. The first night he spent here he and sixteen others slept in the old log cabin that now stands near the brewery. The subsequent growth of the place, its attractions for miners, its development as a town, and its increase in population he has witnessed, and to it he has himself contributed. Meantime, he has exerted a powerful influence as a citizen. Being of a kind, generous-hearted disposition, he has al- ways stood ready to help the distressed and needy, and, even to the point of self-sacrifice, has frequently aided those who were strangers to him, as well as those who were his friends.

On the north side of the Susquehanna River, near Wilkes Barre, Pa., Mr. Taylor was born June 17, 1828, a son of Arnold and Mary (Jack- son) Taylor. His father, who was a saddler and harnessmaker by trade, also followed agricultural pursuits, but died in 1828, when only thirty-five years of age. His wife died in 1872 in Indiana, having long survived him. Of their two chil- dren William alone survives. He was reared in Kingston and Wilkes Barre, Pa., and attended Kingston Seminary. At twenty-two years of age he went to Fort Wayne, Ind., and became a deputy in the county recorder's office. Later he assisted in surveying the Wabash system through Ohio and Indiana to Danville, Il1., as an assist- ant to William Durbin, of Ohio, who made the preliminary survey.

When Moody, Ross & Co., in 1853, took the contract to build the road, with Warren Colburn as chief engineer, Mr. Taylor became assistant to Mr. Colburn and remained in that position until the completion of the road in 1856. In 1857 he took a contract for the completion of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad from Plymouth, Ind., to Chicago, which work he completed in 1858. He then engaged in various pursuits in Chicago and Indiana until 1880, when he came to Telluride to attend to the interests of the stockholders in the Golden Group mine on Bear Creek. In 1883 he embarked in the lumber business in Telluride, and has since been more or less engaged in the same business, also has op- erated a sawmill on San Miguel River. With John Leonard he operated a twenty-stamp mill and owns some good claims. Through his kind- ness in giving lumber to poor men who desired to build homes, he has been most helpful in pro- moting the growth of the town. He has been active in the Democratic party, and in 1883 was

C. B. SCHMIDT.

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prominently connected with the work of organiz- ing San Miguel County. For many years he was a member of the town board, also served as inayor several terms, and is the present incum- bent, and for two terms was county commissioner. In the fall of 1898 he was elected to the state leg- islature on the Democratic ticket, endorsed by the Populists, and in this position he has shown the same fidelity to the interests of the people, the same energy and determination, the same devo- tion to the cause of just legislation that had pre- viously characterized him as a private citizen.

B. SCHMIDT, general agent of the Subur- ban Land and Investment Company, of Pu- eblo, and a director of the Bessemer Irriga- ting Ditch Company, is a German by birth and education, but an American to all intents and purposes. A native of Saxony, he came to Amer- ica at the age of twenty-one, about the time of the close of the Civil war. With him he brought his working capital in the form of a German col- lege education, which soon enabled him to make his way in a land full of opportunities for intelli- gence and energy. After a few years of varied attempts to gain a foothold in the east he gradu- ally drifted west (anticipating the advice of Hor- ace Greeley), and at the beginning of the year 1868 he found himself in Kansas.

The era of rapid development of that state was then setting in, and Mr. Schmidt was destined to act as an important factor in this development work. When the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad had spanned the state from the Missouri River to the Colorado line and thereby earned its magnificent land grant, Mr. Schmidt, who had already done much by his ready German pen to attract the attention of his countrymen to Kan- sas, was commissioned by the late A. E. Touza- lin, then land commissioner of the Atchison road, to organize a department of foreign immigration. This department remained under his charge for about thirteen years, and from a small beginning attained extensive proportions, its ramifications extending from the Ural Mountains on the east- ern confines of Europe, to the Pacific coast. The prosperous German, Swiss and Mennonite settle- ments in that part of Kansas which is tributary to the Santa Fe system are lasting monuments to the work then done by Mr. Schmidt.

The Santa Fe land grant having been practi- cally disposed of to settlers, Mr. Schmidt removed from Topeka to Omaha in 1885, at the invitation

of Mr. Touzalin, there assuming the management of the Equitable Trust Company. The nature of his work for the railroad company, and subse- quently for the Equitable Trust Company and other financial concerns, rendered necessary fre- quent trips to Europe and long sojourns there; and he has been instrumental in bringing not only thousands of men, but millions of cheap money for investment to the west. At the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chi- cago he was at the head of the German Ethno- graphic Exhibition, of which the German village was a part. This enterprise was capitalized by a syndicate of German banks under the leadership of the Deutsche Bank of Berlin. Soon after the close of the World's Fair he came to Colorado to assume his present work, the management of the large land interests connected with the Bessemer Canal, near Pueblo. He is also a director of the Concordia Loan and Trust Company of Missouri, at Kansas City, Mo., a director of the Pueblo Business Men's Association, and vice-president of the Pueblo Melon Growers' Association. In 1898 he was appointed one of the Colorado com- missioners to the Omaha Exposition. In matters political he adhered to the Democratic party un- til the presidential campaign of 1896, since which time he has been independent.

The marriage of Mr. Schmidt took place in 1866 and united him with Miss Martha A. Frain, of Kentucky. Three sons and one daughter were born of their union: A. B., who is passenger agent of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad in Denver; C. O., who is with his father; M. E., of Denver; and Ella M., wife of George B. Tzschuck, secretary and treasurer of the Omaha Bee Pub- lishing Company.

ON. MATT FRANCE, a pioneer of 1860, is commissioner of El Paso County and one of the most influential citizens of Colorado - Springs. His services in the cause of education have been especially valuable. From an early day he has been interested iu securing for the young men and women of the mountain state every possible opportunity for the acquirement of good educations. During his five years' service as president of the school board of Colorado Springs, he gave much time and thought to ad- vancing the standard of scholarship and the quality of instruction furnished by the public. school. For some years he was a member of the board of trustees of Colorado College, and his

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interest in this institution has never ceased. He was one of those who favored an appropriation of one-fifth of a mill per capita, which plan for rais- ing money for state institutions of learning has since become very popular. The interest of this appropriation was devoted to the building of the Deaf Mute School (now the School for the Edu- cation of the Deaf and Blind) located at Colorado Springs. In 1875 Governor Routt, then the ter- ritorial governor, appointed him a member of the first board of trustees of this school, and he con- tinued to serve as a trustee for nine years.

The France family (or Frantz, as the name was originally spelled) were early settlers of Pennsylvania. John France, father of our sub- ject, was born near Reading, and in early man- hood removed to Roanoke County, Va., where he engaged in farming. Afterward he removed to Dayton, Ohio, but in the spring of 1835 re- turned to his old Virginia home, where he soon died. His wife, Mary, was born in Shenandoah County, Va., and died near Leavenworth, Kan., in 1881, aged eighty-four. Her father, Joseph Mccullough, was born in Virginia and descended from Scotch ancestors, who were early settlers in the Shenandoah Valley. John and Mary France were the parents of eight children, namely: Christian, a physician, who died in Mobile, Ala .; Mrs. Eliza Abshire, of Leavenworth, Kan .; Eli, a dentist, who died near Louisville, Ky., in 1854; John, a physician, who went to California in 1860 and died there; Samuel, also a physician, who died in Bourbon, Ind., in 1896; Matthew (or Matt, as he is invariably called); Elizabeth, who died in Kansas in 1858; and Charles, who was president of the State National Bank, of St. Joseph, Mo., now deceased.

Near Roanoke, Va., where he was born Sep- tember 2, 1830, the subject of this review grew to manhood, meantime attending private schools and Boutetourt Springs Academy. In 1849 he removed to South Bend, Ind., where for several years he made his home with Hon. Schuyler Col- fax, and, when Mr. Colfax was elected a member of congress, carried on his paper. In the year 1854 he went to Kansas, being one of the first of the family to settle there. He entered one hundred and sixty acres near Leavenworth, where he built a house and began farming. He remained there for some years, and witnessed much of the excitement incident to the slavery disputes in that state. Failing health caused him to remove to Colorado. In 1860 he came

from St. Joe to Denver, overland, with ox-teams, spending forty-three days on the road. He spent a short time in Gilpin, Guy Hill, Black Hawk and Central City.

While in South Bend Mr. France had learned telegraphy. When the first telegraph line was built in Central City in 1863, he was soon made operator and manager, and continued as such un1- til the close of the war. In the latter part of 1865 he went to Georgetown, where he engaged in mining, and with Joseph Watson opened the Brown mine on Republican mountain and the Baker mine on Baker mountain. In 1870 he sold his mining interests and removed to El Paso County, where he took up a ranch at the Old Jimmy camp nine miles east of Colorado Springs. For many years he continued in the cattle busi- ness and was an active member of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association. He made Colorado City his home until 1871, when he built a resi- dence in Colorado Springs, and has since resided here. On disposing of his cattle business in 1886, he gave his entire attention to mining, and opened and developed the Silver Wing mine in the San Juan country. He also owns the Old Man mine near Silver City, N. M., Great Ameri- can inine in Arizona, and Sheriff mine in Cripple Creek.

In Cape May County, N. J., October 11, 1867, Mr. France married Mrs. Annie (Shoemaker) Parsons, who was born in New Jersey. He is a member of the Association of Colorado Pioneers, and has been identified with the El Paso County Pioneers' Association since its organization as its president. In politics he is active as a silver Re- publican. In 1871 he was elected county com- missioner for three years, and by successive re- election served until January, 1884. During his period of service most of the roads in the county were built, among them the Ute Pass road, which cost $15,000. This being a free road to Lead- ville, turned the tide of travel through Colorado Springs and in that way aided in the building up of the city. Soon after the expiration of his fourth term as county commissioner he went to California, where he remained for a year. In 189i he went to Denver as register of the state board of land commissioners, to which position he was appointed by Governor Routt. Two years later he returned to the Springs. In the fall of 1896 he was elected county commissioner, on the silver Republican ticket, and took his seat in January, 1897, to serve until 1900. He was

NORMAN O. JOHNSON.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

made a Mason in Central City Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M., later was identified with the Georgetown lodge and is now a member of El Paso Lodge No. 13, of Colorado Springs. While in Central City he was made a Chapter Mason, and now belongs to Colorado Springs Chapter No. 6, R. A. M. He is also a member of Pike's Peak Commandery No. 6, K. T., and El Jebel Temple, N. M. S., of Denver. In him the com- munity has an unswerving friend, who is ever eager to serve her best interests, and generous in his contributions toward every public-spirited en- terprise. In various ways he has long been con- nected with the public life of El Paso County, and as an official has proved himself to be incor- ruptible, able and efficient.

ORMAN O. JOHNSON, deceased, formerly the senior member of the firm of N. O. John- so11 & Sons, merchants of Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Cripple Creek and Manitou, was born in Chester, Windsor County, Vt. His father, Timo- thy Johnson, was a member of an old family of New England, and was born in Cavendish, Vt., where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. When in middle life he removed from Windsor County to Westmoreland, N. H., and there died at sev- enty-four years of age.

After having graduated from Chester Academy, the subject of this article opened a mercantile store in Chester, and continued there for twenty-six years. For some time he served as selectman of his town. In 1886 he came to Colorado Springs and opened a store on South Tejon street, laying then the foundation of what afterward became an immense business. In 1892 lie took into part- nership his only children, Herbert and Harry, and during the same year enlarged his store, doubling its capacity. Again, in 1893, he added a room, 50x75, and the following year another room1, 20x50, and in 1898 a room 20x30, the most of this space covering two floors. In his large store he carried a full assortment of dry- goods, carpets, millinery, shoes, notions, etc.

In 1889 the firm established a branch business in Manitou, but discontinued it in 1894. In 1893 they opened a store in Cripple Creek, where during the fire they were burned out, with a loss of $15,000. Afterward they erected a block, 25×150 feet, three stories in height. The busi- ness that, through energy and good business judgment, they built up became the largest in the city. In 1895 they bought the Paul Wilson

dry-goods house in Pueblo, corner of Main and Fifth streets, where they had three floors, with a frontage of one hundred feet and a depth of ninety feet, making their establishment the largest in the city.

Besides his mercantile interests, Mr. Johnson was interested in Cripple Creek mines from the opening of the district, and was a director in the Union Gold Mining Company. On the organi- zation of the Exchange National Bank he was made a director, and later was elected vice-presi- dent, but in 1895, owing to poor health, he sold his interest in the bank aud retired from the di- rectorate. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and did much to enlarge the com- mercial importance of the various cities in which his stores were located. His political views were strongly Republican.

During his residence in Vermont Mr. Johnson married Miss Ellen Henry, who was born in Claremont, N. H., and is now living with her so11, Harry, at No. 1408 West Colorado avenue, Colorado Springs. She traces her lineage to the ancestors from whom Patrick Henry descended. Her father, Frederick A. Henry, was a native of New Hampshire, where he engaged in farming.

Mr. Johnson gave his attention to his large and important business interests until May, 1897, when he was taken ill. He died in Pueblo No- vember 20 of the same year, and was buried in Colorado Springs, where he made his home. At the time of his death he was sixty-one years of age. When the estate was settled the extensive stores in Pueblo and Cripple Creek became jointly the property of his widow and younger son, Harry. The latter has the management of both stores. The older son succeeded to the ownership of the Colorado Springs business.

ERBERT JOHNSON, member of the mer. cantile firm of Johnson & Wilbur, of Colo- rado Springs, is the son and successor in business of N. O. Johnson, deceased. When a division of the estate was made, after the death of his father, his mother and brother withdrew from the Colorado Springs enterprise, September 1, 1898, and accepted as their share of the estate the stores in Cripple Creek and Pueblo, while he gave up his interest in the latter houses, and, by consolidation with the Wilbur Dry Goods Com- pany, formed the firm of Johnson & Wilbur . Mercantile Company, successors to N. O. John- son & Sons.

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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In Chester, Vt., where he was born July 14, 1867, the subject of this narrative spent the first nineteen years of his life. Under his father's supervision he was early trained to a knowledge of merchandising. When he came to Colorado, in August, 1886, he entered his father's store as bookkeeper and assistant, and in 1892 was made a partner in the enterprise. Since the formation of his present partnership he has been the gen- eral manager of the business, M. H. Wilbur be- ing the purchasing agent. The company has more square feet of floor space than any other business house in the city. By keeping abreast with the times in every department of their busi- ness, as well as by their reliable dealings with all, they have established a large and lucrative patronage, and have the confidence of the public.

Five miles north of Colorado Springs lies a ranch of six hundred acres, owned by Mr. John- son. Investigating this land, from certain for- mations on the surface, he decided it must con- tain coal beds, and so prospected for coal. He succeeded in finding some good veins, running from six to ten feet wide, and containing a fine quality of liginite. He has introduced the im- proved methods of mining for coal and has opened five mines. In addition to the land that he owns, he leases and controls fifteen hundred acres. He is also interested in Cripple Creek mines.

Politically Mr. Johnson is a Republican. He is treasurer and a director of the Chamber of Commerce and one of its most active members. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks (in which he is a trustee) and is also a member of Pike's Peak and El Paso Clubs. In forwarding the movement for the establishment of a flower car- nival he has been deeply interested. The Y. M. C. A. and Grace Episcopal Church number him among their members. His marriage, which took place in Vermont in 1886, united him with Miss Lulu N. Lee, who was born and reared in Chester. They have three children: Harry, Norman and Ruth.

ARRY JOHNSON. Nothing is more true than that judicious management, fair deal- ing and application to business will result in profit to the parties concerned. Even in a city as large as Pueblo, it does not take long for a man of ability and enterprise to become foremost in whatever line of industry he enters. Thus it

happens that, while Mr. Johnson is a young man, he is, nevertheless, an experienced, prominent and successful man of business. His success as a merchant is, to a large extent, due to the fact that he has been trained in it from early boyhood, but it is largely due to his own application, force of character and determination to succeed. He and his mother are proprietors of a store in Pueblo that is one of the largest dry goods establishments in the state, and they also own a store in Cripple . Creek, having succeeded to the business of his father, N. O. Johnson, at these points, while his brother, Herbert, retained the large store at Colo- rado Springs.

The history of the Johnson family appears in the sketches of N. O. and Herbert Johnson, on another page of this volume. Our subject was born in Chester, Windsor County, Vt., March 20, 1872. In 1885 he accompanied his parents to Colorado Springs, having previously graduated from the high school of Chester. After coming to this state he clerked for his father, and at the age of eighteen was given charge of the carpet department. In 1893 he became a member of the firm of N. O. Johnson & Sons, for whom, after 1895, he had the special duty of buying for the stores in Cripple Creek, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Manitou. After his father's death he took charge of the Pueblo store. August 1, 1898, the partnership was dissolved, and he and his mother formed the present firm of Harry Johnson & Co. In Pueblo they have a building of three stories, one hundred feet square, in which they carry a full line of dry goods, millinery, cloaks, suits, etc., this being the largest exclusive dry-goods establishment in southern Colorado. In Cripple Creek they own and occupy a large building, 25x150, two floors, which they have stocked with a complete assortment of dry goods and millinery.

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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 35

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