Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 48

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 48

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The Rothwell family originated in England, but removed thence to Ireland, where the doctor's grandfather, Benjamin, engaged in farming. He took his family from there to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where he engaged in farming. During the Canadian Rebellion of 1837 he, with his son, Thomas, bore a part. Thomas Rothwell was a farmer and died in 1896, at the age of eighty- eight. His wife, Catherine, was born near the Vale of Avoca, Ireland, and now resides in Can-

ada. She was a daughter of Peter Tompkins, a farmer, who removed to Canada with his family in an early day.

Six sons and three daughters comprised the family of which Dr. Rothwell was a member, and of these all are living but two of the daughters. One brother, E. J., graduated from the medical department of the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor and is now a practicing physician in Denver. Another brother, P. D., is also a grad- uate of Ann Arbor and a physician in Denver. Benjamin is an educator in Canada, and Samuel and Thomas are farmers there. The subject of this sketch was born near Ottawa, and at the age of thirteen accompanied the family from there to Listowell, County Perth, Ontario, where he at- tended the public school. He prepared for col- lege at Rockwood, Canada. In 1869 he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan, but after one year, his funds being ex- hausted, he was obliged to discontinue his studies until he had reimbursed his bank account. Go- ing to Idaho in 1870, he became principal of the Idaho City school, and continued in that position for two years, meantime studying medicine in his leisure hours. In 1872 he entered Jefferson Med- ical College, Philadelphia, from which he gradu- ated in 1873 with the degree of M. D., and for a few months afterward he did hospital work in Philadelphia, having as his roommate Dr. E. E. Montgomery, since prominent as a gynecologist.

Returning to Idaho City in the fall of 1873, Dr. Rothwell opened an office and for fourteen years carried on a general practice in medicine and surgery. While there he was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of county superin- tendent of Boise County, serving for four years. In the fall of 1887 he located in Denver. His office is in the Cooper building. Immediately after coming here he became associated with Gross Medical College, which had recently been opened. For three years he held the chair of therapeutics, after which he was made professor of physical diagnosis and diseases of the chest, holding the same until the establishment of the chair of mental and nervous diseases, in 1895, when he was elected to that chair. In addition to being an instructor, he has been a trustee of - the institution since its establishment. He is a member of the Denver and Arapahoe County, the State and American Medical Societies, and in

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1884 took a post-graduate course in New York in order to perfect himself in certain branches. Re- ligiously he is an Episcopalian.

In Idaho City Dr. Rothwell married Miss Clara Galbreaith, who was born in Shasta, Cal., the daughter of Stephen Galbraith, a native of Ham- ilton, Ontario, and a "forty-niner" in California. Dr. and Mrs. Rothwell have four sons: William Herbert, a graduate of the Denver high school and a member of the class of 1900 Gross Medical College, and now with the hospital corps at Manila, Philippine Islands; Matthew Thomas, a graduate of the Denver high school in 1895; Walter Peter; and Stephen Gainsford. While in Idaho City the doctor was made a Mason, and he is now a member of Denver Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., and Denver Chapter No. 2, R. A. M. For some time he was grand representative of the state of Pennsylvania for Idaho.

M YRON H. AKIN, vice-president and man- ager of the Akin Live Stock Company and one of the influential citizens of Fort Col- lins, was born near Joliet, Will County, Il1., No- vember 7, 1857, and is of Scotch lineage. His father, Henry, was born at Johnstown, near Al- bany, N. Y., and was a son of Abraham Akin, a native of York state and one of the discoverers of salt and owner of the original salt works. After a very successful business life he died in Syracuse.

For some years Henry Akin engaged in farm- ing in Albany County, N. Y., but in 1841 he located in Will County, Ill., between Lockport and Joliet, where he improved a fine farm from the prairie of that section. He became well known throughout that region and acquired the ownership to large tracts of land. In 1874 he removed to Vermilion County and bought the town site of East Lynn, which, in connection with George H. White, he platted in lots. To the sale of his real estate and the cultivation of his land he gave his attention until 1879, when, hoping by a change of climate to obtain relief from asthma, he settled in Larimer County, Colo., and embarked in farming upon a four hundred acre tract that he purchased. He is hale and hearty, showing in his appearance and activity little trace of his eighty years of life.

The wife of Henry Akin bore the maiden name

of Eunice Harris and was born in Pine Plains, Dutchess County, N. Y. After a married life of fifty-two years, she died in Colorado in 1896, aged seventy-four years. Her father, Israel Har- ris, was born in Dutchess County, which he represented in the legislature of New York. He married a daughter of Colonel Barker, an officer in the Revolution. Late in life he went to Michi- gan, where he died. He had sons who served in the legislatures of New York and Michigan. Ten children were born to the union of Henry and Eunice Akin, of whom seven attained man- hood and womanhood, namely: Phœbe, who died in Dutchess County, N. Y .; Henry R., a con- ductor on the Houston & Texas Central Railroad in Texas; Myron H .; Harris, Abraham and Will- iam, who are farmers in Larimer County; and John, who is connected with the First National Bank of El Paso, Tex.

After having for some terms attended the pub- lic and high schools of Lockport, Ill., the sub- ject of this sketch began railroading at the age of sixteen. He learned telegraphy at Lockport, in the Chicago & Alton depot, and continued as operator there for a year, after which he was with the Lake Erie & Western Railroad at East Lynn, Ill., for five years. Resigning in 1881, he came to Colorado and became operator at Fort Collins for the Union Pacific (now the Gulf ) Railroad. He had purchased one hundred and sixty acres three miles southwest of the town while he was still in Illinois and had helped to put a ditch through the land, out of which he evolved a valuable farm. This property he traded for one hundred head of brood mares in 1882, and located at Steamboat Rock, where he took up a ranch and fenced twenty-five hundred acres of fine graz- ing land that he still owns. His next employ- ment was that of foreman for Jesse Harris, the largest importer of horses in the west, and, as foreman for that gentleman for five years, he traveled through the western states and terri- tories. At the same time he raised horses on his ranch, and these he later traded for cattle. For a while he engaged in the real-estate business, dealing in residence property and farms, and also carried on a cattle business.

Mr. Akin and his brothers were among the first to bring sheep into Larimer County, buying them in New Mexico and feeding them here. November 17, 1895, he formed a partnership with

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Messrs. Avery and Hall, as Hall & Co. This firm was succeeded, September 17, 1897, by the Akin Live Stock Company, of which F. C. Avery is president, Myron H. Akin vice-president and manager; and Edward H. Hall secretary and treasurer, the capital stock being $60,000. The company have a farm of eighteen hundred acres and ranches aggregating three thousand acres in the foot hills, also Steamboat Rock ranch of twenty-five hundred acres, and raise from twenty- five hundred to four thousand tons of alfalfa each year; also handle as many as sixty thousand head of sheep annually, this being one-fourth of the entire number handled here; and feed over four thousand head per annum. They buy Mexican lambs, which are shipped to this point. In his work Mr. Akin has become familiar with the Mexican language, much of his business having been done with the people of Mexico. He is a charter member of the Larimer County Sheep Feeders' Association, of which he was the first, and is still secretary and treasurer. He is also identified with the Colorado Stock Growers' As- sociation and was a delegate to the National Stock Growers' Convention in 1897. Politically he is a silver Republican. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a trustee in the Presbyterian Church, of which denomination he and his wife are both members.

In Las Animas, Colo., June 5, 1890, Mr. Akin married Miss Elizabeth D. Mellinger, who was born in Seven Mile, Butler County, Ohio. Her father, Jacob Mellinger, was born in Lancaster, Pa., a son of Jacob Mellinger, Sr. Removing to Butler County, Ohio, he engaged in the hotel business there. His last days were spent in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he died. He married Julia Hunt, a native of Ohio, and daughter of Henry Hunt, who was born in New Jersey and engaged in farming in Ohio. Mrs. Julia Mellinger is now living in Las Animas. She has four children: Elizabeth; Eleanor, who is married and lives in Las Animas; Wayne H., also a resident of that town; and Mrs. Edith Deweese, of the same place. Mrs. Akin was graduated from the Fort Wayne high school in 1877 and the following year com- pleted the course in the Fort Wayne Normal School, after which she engaged in teaching. In . 1882 she came to Fort Collins, and here taught in the grammar school for eight years. After

her marriage she took a course in kindergarten work and became a teacher in that department of school work. She was the first lady in this city to be elected a member of the board of education and was made secretary of the board, serving for five years. She is also actively identified with the Woman's Club of Fort Collins. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Akin are Eunice Eliza- beth and Wayne Mellinger.

ILLIAM B. MINER, president of the Fort Collins Electric Light Company and one of the most successful stockmen of Lari- mer County, is a descendant of a pioneer New England family. His grandfather, Jesse Miner, a native of New London, Conn., was a govern- ment contractor during the war of 1812 and afterward engaged in farming at Vernon, Conn. He had a son, Dudley T., who was born and reared at Vernon, and devoted his entire active life to the management of the old homestead; there he died at eighty-five years. The home farm is now owned by one of his sons, Harry T. Dudley T. Miner was twice married, and by his first wife had a son, John R., who now resides near the old home place. His second wife was Angeline Davis, a native of Springfield, Mass. Two children were born of that union, William B. and Harry T. The latter at one time served in the Connecticut legislature.

In Vernon, Conn., where he was born June 23, 1837, the subject of this sketch spent the first eighteen years of life. In 1855 he came west, joining at St. Joe, Mo., a train bound for Cali- fornia, and journeying with an ox-team and herd of stock across the plains, through South Pass, down the Humboldt and into California. At Thirty-Mile Canon the party was attacked by the Indians and at other places they had consider- able trouble on account of the proximity of the red men. The journey consumed six months. He remained in California for ten years, engag- ing in sheep-raising on the Cosmunes River, twenty-two miles south of Sacramento, whence in 1866 he returned to Connecticut. Settling in Vernon, he built a mill and embarked in the manufacture of paper, which business he had learned in his boyhood. With a partner he owned and conducted the Granite Mills until 1871, when he sold out.

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While in Connecticut, September 13, 1869, Mr. are raised in large quantities, and the most mod- ern machinery is used in farming. The brand is nine half diamond, or an inverted six.

Miner married Miss Mary F. Battey, who was born in that state. Her father, Robert Battey, a farmer by occupation, was a mechanical genius and could contrive useful articles in any line of work. In 1876 he came to Colorado, where he died in 1895, at the age of seventy-two. He had been self-supporting from an early age, as his father, Amasa, a farmer of New England, had died when he was a boy of only six. He married Faith Stiles, who was born in Connecticut, daughter of Samuel Stiles, a farmer. She is now living in Fort Collins. Of her family of nine children all are still living, Mrs. Miner being fourth in order of birth.

In 1871 Mr. Miner removed to Dixon, Lee County, Ill., and from there in July, 1873, he came to Colorado, settling on a ranch thirteen miles north of Fort Collins, on Park Station Creek, which was named for a station on the overland stage road. He was one of the first men in Colorado to embark in the sheep busi- ness. He believed sheep could be raised here and bought some Illinois merinos, with which he started his herd. The experiment was costly at first. However, he secured a fine herd, being a cross between Merino-Shropshires and New Mex- ican ewes, thus getting a sheep suited to this country. In his work he was greatly assisted by his experience while in California. In 1890 he sold out the sheep business. He owns in one ranch ten sections of land, all of which is fenced.

In 1878 Mr. Miner formed a partnership with Senator Warren, of Wyoming, in the sheep- raising business, and for five years the firm title was Miner & Warren, after which it was incor- porated as the Warren Live Stock Company. They owned ranches in Wyoming and Colorado, and had forty thousand sheep. When the busi- ness was merged into the incorporated company a capitalization of $560,000 was secured, Mr. Miner, Mr. Warren and Mr. Gleason being the incorporators, Mr. Miner becoming a director. Some time later he sold his interest in the con- cern. About 1883 he started in the cattle busi- ness, and when he had built up a herd he sold out his sheep interests. He has full-blooded and high-grade Herefords, all of which are kept inside the fence during the entire year. The North Fork ditch runs through the land, providing the cattle with water. On the ranch alfalfa and hay

In addition to his other property Mr. Miner owns a large ranch in Wyoming, comprising thirty-five hundred acres, under fence, on the headwaters of the Box Elder, near Granite Canon, on the Union Pacific Railroad, where he summers his herd. This place is only eighteen miles from the other ranch. He also leases three and one- fourth sections of land near Park Station ranch, his home farm. In September, 1883, he removed to Fort Collins, and the following year built his present substantial residence. In addition to owning cattle, he has some fine Percheron horses. From the organization of the Fort Collins Elec- tric Company he was its president and manager, and is still the principal stockholder, his son be- ing superintendent. The plant owned by the company furnishes light for the city and college.

The older son of Mr. Miner is Duane F., who was educated in the State Agricultural College and is now superintendent of the electric com- pany; the younger son is Earl D. In politics Mr. Miner was a Democrat prior to 1884, since which he has been a Republican, as is also Mrs. Miner. For two years he was a member of the city council, and for the same period mayor of Fort Collins; also served as county commissioner for three years. When away from the state at one time he was nominated for the state senate, but not desiring the office he did no campaign work and was defeated, but by only two votes. He is a member of Fort Collins Lodge and Chap- ter in Masonry. In 1884 he was a delegate from Colorado to the National Wool Growers' Con- vention in Chicago, of which association he was a member for many years. He was also long identified with the State Wool Growers' Asso- ciation, which he assisted in organizing. Per- sonally he is genial and good-natured, liberal to all enterprises of a public-spirited nature and generous in his benefactions. For a number of years he was the president of the Larimer County Fair Association, which held at Fort Collins the best exhibitions of the kind ever held in Colorado.

OSEPH R. POWELL, vice-president and secretary of the Long's Peak Coal Company, and a prominent citizen of Erie, Weld County, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Decem-

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ber 14, 1845, a son of John J. and Eliza McG. (Risdon) Powell. He was one of six children, of whom, besides himself, two daughters survive, namely: Caroline, wife of H. L. Krigbanm, of Scranton, Pa .; and Mary A., Mrs. W. M. Darling, also of Scranton.

A native of Burlington, N. J., born March 17, 1813, John J. Powell served au apprenticeship to the brick-layer's trade in Philadelphia when he was a young man, and after his marriage, which took place in Mount Holly, N. J., he settled with his young wife in Brooklyn, N. Y. While there he erected the first gas works built in the city of New York. Afterward he erected gas works in every seaboard town from Maine to Georgia. At the breaking out of the war he embarked in busi- ness at White Sulphur Springs, Va., where he arched a number of tunnels. Ou his return to Scranton, Pa., to visit his relatives he was obliged to remain there, not being permitted to go south of the Mason and Dixon line; and his outfit, which he had left in Virginia, was confiscated. It was not long after this that he contracted rheu- matism, which prevented him from re-engaging in active work. He lived retired until his death June 3, 1871. His father was a native of New Jersey and a successful contractor and bnilder.

When the subject of this sketch was about fifteen years of age his father lost all he had through confiscation. The son, obliged to begin in the world for himself, secured employment as a fireman on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Wes- tern Railroad. At twenty years of age he was running a passenger engine on the same road, being one of the youngest engineers on the system. February 14, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss Alice Van Valkenburg, a native of Bradford County, Pa., and the daughter of Rev. R. J. Van Valkenburg. In 1868, with his wife, he came west, traveling by rail to Chey- enne, and thence going by stage to Blackhawk, where he secured work as an engineer. Previous to coming to this state he had gone to Omaha, where he was promised an engine, but after waiting for two weeks without securing work he returned to New York, and after consulting his wife they decided to come to Colorado.

For a time Mr. Powell continued engineering and mining on his own responsibility, but when the Colorado Central Railroad was built into Blackhawk in 1872, he made application for and

was given a freight engine, which he ran for two weeks, and was then given a passenger engine. In 1873 he retired from railroading and began prospecting, which he continued until 1882. During the latter year he came to Erie and en- tered the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad and during the five years that followed he worked for the company at Erie, Rock Springs, Carbon and Como, where he held the position of chief engineer of the company's mines. At Erie he embarked in the hotel business in 1887, contin- uing in that business until the summer of 1891, when lie commenced to prospect for coal. In partnership with William Nicholson, in June, 1892, he leased his present property and immedi- ately began to sink the shaft of the Long's Peak Coal Company, which he has since operated with Mr. Nicholson, the latter being president, while he is vice-president and secretary. In December of the same year, when the United Coal Company bought an interest in the company, Edward P. Phelps was made treasurer. The company is now sinking another shaft about one mile south of Erie, which promises to develop some of the best coal in this reigion.

Fraternally Mr. Powell is connected with Gar- field Lodge No. 50, A. F. & A. M., of Erie, of which he is the present master. He is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which denomination in America his maternal ancestors were among the founders. His mother was a consin of Dr. Adam Clark, author of Clark's Commentaries. Mr. and Mrs. Powell became the parents of four children, namely: Harry A., de- ceased; Alice M., wife of W. J. Breckel, who is engaged in the jewelery business at Steamboat Springs, Colo .; Emma R., wife of C. M. Morning a railroad man, now holding a position in the office of the superintendent of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad at McCook, Neb; and Richard T., deceased.

ON. EDWIN J. TEMPLE, secretary of the board of regents of the University of Colo- rado, is one of the wealthiest and most in- fluential citizens of Boulder. No one here has taken a more active or interested part in the pro- motion of local enterprises and institutions, or been swifter to come to the assistance of such with material aid. Education of the young is a sub- ject the importance of which he deeply feels, as

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has been manifested by him in many substantial ways. For eight years he has served as a mem- ber of the school board and for five years has been the able president of that honorable body. Sub- sequent to the death of Captain Tyler, Governor Eaton appointed Mr. Temple to the vacated place on the regency board of the university. In the following election he was chosen to continue in the office by the Republicans, and as such re- mained for six years; at the time of the election of Governor Waite he was defeated with his whole party by the Populist vote, which carried every- thing before it. Later, however, he was ap- pointed on the board by Governor McIntire, and is now filling out his tenth year in this responsible position. He is an earnest champion of the prin- ciples of the Republican party and has been an alderman here for about twelve years, much of the time being the president pro tem. In this period the new water works have been instituted, the Highland and high schools have been built and many other improvements carried to success- ful completion.

The paternal grandfather of the subject of this biography was born in the northern part of Ire- land, and was of Scotch, English and Irish extraction. He brought his family to the United States at an early day and settled in Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life. James Temple, father of our subject, was likewise a native of the Emerald Isle, but was reared chiefly in Ohio. He married Rebecca Temple, whose birth had occurred in Scotland, and who is now a resident of Boulder. In 1861 the family started for Colorado, going by way of St. Joseph, np the Platte River, and south to Blackhawk. There the father engaged in milling and mining opera- tions for a few years, but in 1866 went to New Mexico. There he managed the famous Moreno ranch, near Elizabethtown, for two or three years, and about 1869 started in the cattle business on his own account. His property, known far and near as the Temple ranch, is one of the finest and largest in the territory, and for years prior to his death Mr. Temple was considered to be one of the most extensive cattle raisers of the locality. Death put an end to his career in 1886, when he was but fifty-six years of age. Of his six children E. J. is the eldest. William O. is operating the Temple ranch in New Mexico; Joseph R. is liv- ing at Fort Collins; John Charles is managing a Governor Adams.

ranch in Routt County (near Hayden) ; Harry R. is superintendent of a mill at Ward, for the Utica Mining Company; and Frank L. is on a ranch in Routt County.

Edwin J. Temple was born June 22, 1851, in Youngstown, Ohio, and was consequently but ten years of age when he came across the plains to this state. He engaged in the milling busi- ness in Blackhawk when a mere lad and after- ward embarked in merchandising while quite young. He continued as a member of the firm of Smith & Temple in Blackhawk up to 1879, dealing in groceries, grain and hay. The next two years he was occupied in freighting goods in the vicinity of Leadville, and became more or less interested in mines thereabouts. In 1881 he loca- ted in Boulder, having determined to make his permanent home here, however scattered his nu- merous business enterprises might be. He estab- lished an extensive ranch near Hayden, Routt County, and has always had investments in prop- erty and cattle in New Mexico. He is vice-presi- dent of the Pawnee Cattle Company, of Colorado, which does a very profitable business in buying and selling cattle. In short, he is undoubtedly one of the most extensive dealers in cattle in Colo- rado and on his ranches forty-five hundred lambs were fed and kept during the winter of 1897-98. He still operates with his brother the Temple ranch in New Mexico and owns three ranches, one of six hundred and forty acres, and the other two of a quarter-section each, in Larimer County, not far from the county-seat. Mr. Temple is a member of the executive committee of the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association.

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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 48

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