Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 38

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 38

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The grandfather of our subject, Jonathan Kil- born, was a farmer, a native of East Haddam, Conn., born January 28, 1769, and settled in Clinton, Coun., where he died October 10, 1850. When the British, during the war of 1812, ap- peared off the harbor of Clinton, he shouldered his gun and with many of the men of the neigh- borhood went to the harbor to prevent their land-

ing. By his marriage to Elizabeth Farnham he had a large family of children. His father, Capt. Jonathan Kilborn, was born in Colchester, Conn .. April 12, 1742. He settled in East Haddam, Conn., and for many years carried on an extent- sive business at Kilborn's Mills, on Salmon River, in that town. He was an officer in the Revolution, having been commissioned as a lieu- tenant (June 14, 1776) of the First Company, Fourth Battalion, of the troops raised to march immediately to New York, and there join the Continental army; and in October , 1778, he was commissioned as captain of the Third Company, Twenty-fifth Regiment. Captain Kilborn was a man of much enterprise and public spirit, and was appointed to various civil offices.

The subject of this sketch was primarily edu- cated in public schools and a private school con- ducted by Daniel H. Chase. Later he was a stu- dent of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in the class of 1865, and joined the XI Chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. After leaving college he was for a time employed in the manufacture of fire arms at Middletown for the government, and during the latter part of the Civil war he was employed as purser on the steam- ship "Liberty," running from New York to Ha- vana, and occasionally to New Orleans. When the ship steamed into Lower New York Bay early one morning in 1865, news came by health offi- cer of the surrender of General Lee the day before.

From 1865 to 1870 Mr. Kilbourn was employed by the Russell Manufacturing Company of Mid- dletown, being in the office during part of the time, and afterward on the road. Subsequently, in 1870, he accepted a position as clerk in the Middletown Savings Bank, which was incorpor- ated in 1825. By successive promotions he be- came teller, assistant secretary and, in 1877, was elected treasurer, which position he resigned in December, 1879. During his connection with the bank he had seen its deposits of $3,000,000 in- creased to $6,000,000, and had himself promoted its success by his excellent judgment and diligent application to details. From 1874 he was an au- ditor of the Middletown Gas Light Company.

In May, 1880, Mr. Kilbourn came west. After his arrival in Denver he engaged in traveling in Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico for W. & B. Douglas, pump manufacturers of Middletown,. Conn., and also sold silver plated ware for the Middletown Plate Company. In the summer of 1880 he was acting paying teller of the City Na-

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tional Bank of Denver. In August, 1881, he was appointed teller of the Stock Growers' National Bank of Pueblo, and in the spring of the follow- ing year, on the organization of the Bank of Pueblo, he accepted the position of assistant cashier, which he held for two years. On resign- ing that place he became financial agent for southern Colorado, representing the Travelers Insurance Company, and in that business he con- tinued until the spring of 1895. From August, 1885, till May, 1890, he was receiver of public moneys in the Pueblo Land Office, to which office he received appointment under President Cleve- land. During this period the business grew to be the largest in the history of the office (aggre- gating one year, $431,000), and as receiver and United States disbursing agent more than $1,- 225,000 passed through his hands. As manager for the Travelers Insurance Company he loaned large sums of money for that concern, as well as for many other eastern clients. In 1895 he put the business in the hands of C. C. Stein, of Pu- eblo, under contract, which arrangement still continues. Mr. Kilbourn was elected a director of the Modoc Mining and Milling Company (a dividend payer), in the Cripple Creek district, Colorado, in June, 1897, and was appointed an auditor in June, 1898.

Of Democratic ancestry, it is but natural that Mr. Kilbourn should have identified himself with the Democratic party. However, while he has usually voted that ticket, he is inclined to be in- dependent, and in 1896 voted for William Mc- Kinley for president. At the time of coming west he was a member of the common council of the city of Middletown. When a young man he served more than the required seven years in the volunteer fire department as a member of Hub- bard Hose No. 2, of Middletown, and received an honorable discharge. He is identified with the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder and ex-treasurer. While he was in Middletown he was made a Mason, and was worshipful mas- ter of St. John's Lodge No. 2; high priest of Washington Chapter No. 6, R. A. M .; an ear- nest worker in Columbia Council No. 9, of Royal and Select Masters; eminent commander of Cy- rene Commandery No. 8, K. T., and at the time of his removal from the state was grand general- issimo of the Grand Commandery Knights Tem- plar. He is now a member of Pueblo Comman- dery No. 3, K. T.

Mr. Kilbourn has witnessed the growth of the

city from a very humble beginning; even as late as 1883, when he built a residence on the south- east corner of Court and Twelfth streets (now al- most in the heart of the city), hefound it difficult to persuade the city council to run water mains to his place, for the reason that it was so far out. He now owns and occupies a handsome home at No. 1827 Grand avenue. Mr. Kilbourn has noted with great satisfaction the gradual cessa- tion of toil and the closing of stores and shops on Sunday, until now in Pueblo Sunday trading has mostly ceased. In 1884 he was elected treasurer of Pueblo city schools (district No. 1), and in May, 1892, secretary of the Pueblo Opera House Association, holding the position until the own- ership of the Grand Opera House changed in 1895. In Middletown, Conn., September 4, 1873, he married Mary Adeline Douglas, daugh- ter of William and Catharine Creamer (Riley) Douglas, and granddaughter of Capt. Allen Ri- ley, of Wethersfield, Conn. (a trader in the West Indies), and of William Douglas, a farmer of Northford, Conn. The last-named was a son of Col. William Douglas, who commanded a New Haven regiment in the Revolutionary war, and whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of New England. The father of Mrs. Kilbourn was born in Branford, Conn., April 19, 1812. As a child he evinced a talent for invention. He received the first. patent for pumps, which was granted August 20, 1835, and signed by Andrew Jackson, president of the United States. After- ward he engaged in the manufacture of pumps and carried on a very large business in that line. He died April 21, 1858; his wife survived him many years, passing away January 27, 1896,aged eighty-three years.

Mr. and Mrs. Kilbourn united with the First Church of Middletown (Congregational) and after the family joined him in Colorado in 1882, that membership was transferred to the First Presbyterian Church of Pueblo.

The oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Kilbourn was Jonathan Douglas Kilbourn, a boy of unusual manliness and nobility of character. He was born in Middletown April 26, 1875, was baptized at home January 1, 1877, by his parents' pastor, Rev. Azel W. Hazen, D. D., at which time the 1873 bridal loaf was cut by Dr. Hazen and dis- tributed. While yet a boy Douglas confessed faith in Christ, and having passed a most satis- factory examination, was publicly received into membership with the First Presbyterian Church

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of Pueblo, Sunday, March 3, 1889, by the pastor, Rev. E. Trumbull Lee, D. D. Douglas was a member of the Y. P. S. C. E., an. usher in the church, the treasurer and one of the librarians of the Sunday school. He was efficient, courteous and faithful in every position. Graduating from the Pueblo Centennial High School in 1893, he entered the Electrical Engineering course at Ar- mour Institute, Chicago, in September of that year. He had completed the first year's studies, had been very appreciative of his splendid privi- leges for study and work, had maintained a high standing in scholarship, had been faithful to every Christian and secular duty, and was preparing to return home for the summer vacation, when he was taken ill, and died on June 15, 1894, before his parents could reach him. The parents, Willie and a devoted aunt-Miss Lizzie Kil- bourn, of Middletown-having arrived in Chi- cago, the funeral services were held on Tuesday, June 19, at the residence of Mrs. H. P. Gray, No. 3921 Prairie avenue, where Douglas had made his home, and were conducted by Rev. Frank W. Gunsanlus, D.D., president of Armour Institute, whose tribute to the memory of Douglas (who was known at the Institute as John), to his worth as a Christian young man and scholar, and adding that in the higher life upon which he had then entered, he would start where he had stopped here, progressing under most favorable environ- ments to higher and grander success than was possible to achieve on earth, and instructing those who had been his instructors here, a guardian over those who had cared for him on earth, and an elevating influence in the lives of those he had left behind, was not only eloquent, but comfort- ing and uplifting. The Institute Glee Club, of which Douglas was a member, was present and sang his favorite hymn, "Nearer, My God, to Thee," and other selections. There were present also Philip D. Armour, founder of the Institute, the faculty, and many of the students and Chi- cago friends. Mother and aunt accompanied the remains eastward that afternoon, and the body was laid at rest in the Kilbourn family lot, on the crest of beautiful Indian Hill Cemetery, which overlooks the charming Connecticut Val- ley and River, June 21, 1894, after services at Elm Cottage, the Kilbourn family home in Mid- dletown, conducted by Douglas' Pueblo pastor- Dr. Lee-who happened to be spending his va- cation in Connecticut. During the Revolution- ary war this well-preserved house was owned and

occupied by the grandfather of the late Hon. Henry G. Hubbard, president of the Russell Manufacturing Company, and the northeast front room was used for storing soldiers' clothing at that time, he during the war having been com- missary and superintendent of stores for the army.

The second son, William Douglas Kilbourn, was also born in Middletown, February 3, 1880, and was baptized by Rev. Dr. Hazen, at the First Church, on Sunday, May 2, 1880, the father leaving for Colorado the next day. He is of an inventive turn of mind and already has been granted one United States patent for a newspaper holder, intended for use at breakfast table, or on desk or table, as a stenographer's note book holder, or as a music rack. Another patent for a bottle closure has been granted, but not yet issned. William was a member of the Pneblo Centennial High School, class of 1897, and, like his brother Douglas, stands high in scholarship, is a great reader of the best literature, has a re- tentive memory and keeps abreast of the times in reading and study and observation. He is an athlete, fond of camp life and wholesome sport. His running high jump is five feet two inches, standing broad jump nine feet five inches, and one hundred yards dash close to ten and one-fifth seconds. In June, 1891, he united with the First Presbyterian Church of Pueblo, on confession of faith, and was publicly received with forty-three others, on Sunday, July 5, 1891, by Dr. Lee. He joined the Y. P. S. C. E., and has been treasurer of the Sunday-school, and of the High School Athletic Association, and secretary and treasurer of the school lyceum. He, like his older brother, is a banjoist, and is a member of the Orchestral Quintette, a musical organization of young people. William is now engaged with special studies, preparatory to entering the Colo- rado State School of Mines, at Golden, in Sep- tember, 1899.

The youngest son, Burwell Newton Kilbourn, was born at the Court street home in Pueblo, September 29, 1891, was baptized in the First Presbyterian Church by Rev. E. T. Lee, D.D., pastor, Sunday March 13, 1892. He entered room I in the Centennial School building in September, 1897, and at the end of the school year was advanced to room 3, "jumping room 2" as he says. Though quite youug, he is at times a help to his father when checking up accounts and vouchers.

Mr. Kilbourn was one of the earlier contribu-

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tors to Colorado College, and upon his return to Middletown, after a visit to Denver in 1878, he secured a donation of $100 from his Sunday- school, to help build the Second Congregational Church edifice, on Larimer street, Denver, after- wards condemned.

Mr. Kilbourn has recently presented to the First Presbyterian Church of Pueblo a beautiful individual communion cup service, and in 1895, at the suggestion of the pastor, and upon urgent request of Pueblo friends of his oldest son (whose life had been mostly spent in Pueblo, where he was well known and highly esteemed) that some memorial should here commemorate his ex- emplary record and perpetuate his memory, there was imported a massive, costly and highly pol- ished red marble baptismal font, circular in form, with five tablets appropriately and historically inscribed, presented to the church in memory of Douglas, and placed at the pulpit end of the aisle in which he had so acceptably ushered. The font was dedicated with special services by Dr. Lee, on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1895; and since then many children and adults have thereat received the sacred rites of baptism, to the joy of the donor ..

The heirlooms which have come down through several successive generations of "Jonathans" and now held by the subject of our sketch, are of solid silver, and comprise brooches, buckles, slides and complete sets of buttons for coat, waistcoat and breeches. Each button is neatly engraved "J. K."

John Kilborn, son of Sergt. John Kilbourn, who was confirmed by the general court in May, 1657, "to be sergeant at Wethersfield," was the ancestor of all the Kilbourns of the Glastenbury branch, and born at Wethersfield, Conn., Febru- ary 15, 1651, and died November 25, 1711. He was appointed to public trusts, was a man of con- siderable property, benevolently inclined, and gave a parcel of land for a parsonage for Rev. Timothy Stevens, the first minister of Glasten- bury.

Jonathan Kilborn, Esq., born in Colchester, January 8, 1707, and for many years a member of the state legislature, died October 14, 1785. He was a manufacturer, and an uncommonly in- genious mechanic, invented machinery for cutting iron screws, and directed the preparation of the bar of iron from which by his invention was cut the first screw ever made by machinery. He was an intimate friend of the elder Governor Trum-

bull, and they frequently rode on horseback to and from Colchester and Lebanon, on visits to each other of from one to two weeks in length.

Thomas Kilborne, the common ancestor of all the Kilbornes (now spelt variously, Kilbourn, Kilburn, Kilborn, Kilbourne, etc.) on the west- ern continent, was born in the parish of Wood Ditton, in the County of Cambridge, England, A. D. 1578, where he was baptized on the 8th of May of that year. Unlike most of the pioneers of New England, he was a member of the church of England and church warden of his native par- ish in 1632. On the 15th of April, 1635, he, with a portion of his family, including the young- est son, John, then a lad of ten years, and later known as Sergt. John Kilbourn, baptized at Wood Ditton, September 9, 1624, embarked for New England on board the ship "Increase," Robert Lea, master. In 1613 Agatha Borrow- dale bequeathed to him and others certain prop- erty in trust for benevolent purposes; for the care of which he was to receive at the end of every seven years a "ring of gold of the price of thirty shillings" etc. He settled in Wethersfield, Conn., and died previous to 1639.

Mr. Kilbourn, on his mother's side, is de- scended from Rev. Roger Newton, English born, but only partly English bred. He studied at Harvard, and from Rev. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, founder of the colony of Connecticut, he received instruction in theology; and Mary Hooker, eldest daughter of Thomas Hooker, be- came his wife (so the descendants of Roger New- ton are also descendants of Thomas Hooker). Rev. Roger Newton was one of the seven founders and the first pastor of the church in Farmington, Conn., 1645-1657. Leaving Farmington in 1657 Roger Newton purposed returning to England. Strong adverse winds at the time of sailing led the master of the ship to conclude that, like Jonah of old, Mr. Newton was seeking to escape from the doing of the Lord's work, and fearing lest he might otherwise be compelled to throw him overboard in mid ocean, he left him in Bos- ton and sailed away.

August 22, 1660, Roger Newton was installed the second pastor of the First Church of Christ, Milford, Conn., and so continued until his de- cease, June 7, 1683. He was highly esteemed and his library was enormous for those times. He was a "sound preacher" and a "judicious speaker." The blessing of the patriarchis, the desire of godly men of that time and of all times,

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was granted to him, and the Lord gave to him a godly seed. First and pre-eminently he loved the word of God and was "a good minister of Christ Jesus nourished in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine."

Mr. Kilbourn's mother (Sophia Newton) was a daughter of Burwell Newton, who lived to a good old age. His grandfather, Abner Newton, son of Samnel Newton, and a grandson of Roger Newton, married Mary Burwell, and with his bride removed to Durham, Conn., in 1725.

While the subject of our sketch has practically retired from business, yet his property interests are important and require constant attention, so that he still leads a busy life, and is always in- terested and helpful in all that pertains to the true progress and higher welfare of Pueblo.

·VINCIT VERITAS

c REID CROWELL, who has attained dis- tinction at the bar of Colorado Springs and . the state of Colorado as a successful criminal lawyer, is a member of an old family of New Hampshire. His father, J. Reid Crowell, Sr., was born in Nashua, N. H., and from there removed to Brooklyn, Jackson County, Mich., where, having graduated as a physician from the University at Castleton, Vt., he engaged in prac- tice. Later he had an office in Ann Arbor. He was appointed a professor of therapeutics and theory of practice in the medical department of the University of Michigan and accepted the position, which he filled with credit to himself. Returning to Brooklyn, he died there in 1872, when forty-seven years of age. In fraternal re- lations he was a Mason. His partner was Henry F. Lyster, also a professor at Ann Arbor. Dur- ing the Civil war he was engaged as a surgeon in the army.

The wife of J. Reid Crowell, Sr., was Mary Every, who was born in Louisville, Ky., and died in Brooklyn, Mich. She was a daughter of Jacob Every, a native of Kentucky, who in an early day removed to Oregon. He was an actor and theatrical man, as, indeed, were almost all of the members of the family, and they were noted

both for great genius and for beauty of face and form. The only child of his parents, the subject of this sketch was born in Jackson County, Mich., December 20, 1859. He was reared in Ann Ar- bor and Brooklyn and received his education there and in the Racine public school and Forest Home, Wis., graduating from the latter institu- tion in 1878. Afterward he studied medicine for two years in the medical department of the Uni- versity of Michigan. Deciding, however, that the law was more suited to his talents and tastes, he read law with Judge David Johnson, whose partner, Mr. Montgomery, was subsequently United States judge at Washington, D. C., and afterward with Austin Blair, the war governor of Michigan.

After his admission to the bar in Jackson in 1888, Mr. Crowell practiced in that city for two years, as a partner of Nathan G. King, attorney and banker, of Brooklyn, and at one time partner of Zack Chandler and Jacob M. Howard, both United States senators from Michigan. In 1890 he came to Colorado Springs and formed a part- nership with Joseph Williams, a former partner of Judge Blodgett, United States judge of Chi- cago. After one year he became a partner of Judge McMorris, and four years later formed a partnership with Judge McGarry, which con- tinued for one year. In January, 1898, he and Thomas J. McPartin established the firm of Crowell & McPartin. In January, 1899, W. D'Arcy Lombard became a partner, and the firm of Crowell McPartin & Lombard has since car- ried on a general practice, with office in the El Paso Bank building. As a prosecutor Mr. Crow- ell has made a record for himself, no one having escaped whom he has prosecuted. However, it is as a defender in criminal cases that his extra- ordinary ability is brought into full play. His specialty has been criminal law, in which branch of jurisprudence it is admitted he has few equals. He has been employed, either in defense of, or as prosecutor, in some of the most important cases ever tried in this state, and his reputation in this department of the law has made his name well known to lawyers throughout the state. He lias participated in many celebrated cases which have shed lustre on the bar of Colorado. As a lawyer he is thoroughly grounded in the science of juris- prudence, but it is through his skill in the man- agement of his cases that he has attained the greatest prominence. His tact in drawing out a witness, so that the salient points of the case are

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revealed, is truly wonderful. He is exceedingly successful in the application of the law and the evidence to the case in point. As an orator and an advocate he is especially strong before court and jury. He has the peculiar faculty of leading a jury to view the law and circumstances as he himself views them, and he talks plainly and simply to, and not at, the jury, thereby gaining their confidence in the justice of his cause, and invariably winning his cases.

Mr. Crowell has had little time for the con- sideration of political questions, and has never displayed a partisan spirit in the expression of his opinions. However, he is stanch in his ad- vocacy of the gold wing of the Democratic party.

D'ARCY LOMBARD is a native of Can- ning, Cornwallis Valley, Nova Scotia, "the . land of Evangeline," and was born April 6, 1869, a son of James and Mary (Lynch) Lom- bard, the former a native of London, England, the latter of Nova Scotia. They were the pa- rents of seven sons and one daughter, viz .: John P., a prominent physician in Boston, Mass .; James C., a sea captain; our subject; Julia, the wife of Dr. P. J. Morriority, professor of dentistry in Harvard University; Joseph, who is engaged in ranching at Palmer Lake, Colo .; Charles and Richard, at home with their mother; and Fred- eric, a student at Acadia College, Nova Scotia. The father, James Lombard, died in 1893. He was a strong, rugged character, who achieved success by his own unaided efforts and by dint of his sterling character. In politics he belonged to the liberal party.

The subject of this sketch received the rudi- ments of his education in the public schools of his native province. At the age of twenty he entered Acadia College, taking the scientific course, and was graduated with honors. For two years he was captain of the college foot-ball team, and was usually foremost in athletic sports. After visiting his brother at Boston he came to Colorado and decided to make this state his home. He became a law student of Edgar Caypless, the noted criminal lawyer of Denver. In 1897 he was admitted to the bar, began prac- tice in Colorado Springs, and is now junior part- ner of the firm of Crowell, McParlin & Lombard. By education and training Mr. Lombard is well fitted for the law. He is a close student, and a careful, painstaking lawyer. Politically he is a Democrat.

C BNER SYLVESTER BAKER. Often al- luded to as the "father" of the town of Fort Morgan, the life of Mr. Baker was for years inseparably connected with the city of his creation. He lived to see what was in former years a region of unsettled land transformed into a finely cultivated and prosperous country. Amid the arduous duties of his pioneer life he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to those in need of assistance, even when he himself was struggling against what seemed an adverse fate. He lived to see the town which he platted and named one of the most important in northeastern Colorado, and was himself a conspicuous factor in its growth.

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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 38

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