Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 64

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 64

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ENRY CLAY HOPPER, ex-judge of Custer County and now proprietor of a hotel in Wetmore, was born in Warren County, Tenn., September 26, 1833. His paternal grand- father, Gillam Hopper, removed from Virginia to Tennessee in 1800 and became the owner of a plantation comprising seventeen thousand acres, of which one thousand were under cultivation. He died in 1849 in Litchfield, Ky., where he also owned a plantation. During his residence in the Old Dominion he married Nancy Campbell, a descendant of the royal family of Ireland; her mother, whose name was also Nancy, lived to be one hundred and eight years of age, and cut a third set of teeth, besides gaining renewed eye- sight. Mrs. Nancy Hopper was ninety years of age when she died in 1862. Her children were eight in number: Samuel, Moses J., A. C., James, Polly, Nancy, Pinckley and Gillam. The second husband of Polly was Gov. Clay Jackson, of Missouri; Nancy married Samuel Hand.

The father of our subject, Samuel Hopper, M. D., was a practicing physician in Johnson and Franklin Counties, Tenn. While at Shelby- ville, that state, in 1832, he had an attack of the Asiatic cholera and was the first one who ever recovered from the disease. Besides being an ex- cellent physician, he was a thorough mechanic, and the efficiency shown in his work can be proved by this statement: a water-power mill that he built in 1818 is still in operation; the shaft, of red cedar, was eight inches square, but is now worn perfectly round by the action of the water. When in middle life he removed to Illi- nois, where his remaining years were passed. He was born on the first day of 1800 and passed away in 1866.

Educated in the common schools of Franklin County, our subject was only fourteen when he left school and began steamboating, which busi- ness he followed until twenty-six years of age. Going to Missouri, he there turned his attention

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to farming and stock-raising. He had the con- tract to furnish beef to the contractors who built a division of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad, and this work proved quite profitable. In 1854 he went to Illinois, but four years later returned to Tennessee, where he engaged in the sawmill business in Obion County. He was strongly Union in his sentiments and when the war began found his surroundings unpleasant. Finally, in 1862, so much hostility was expressed that he was obliged to flee in the night from his home. He went to Illinois, where he enlisted in the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry, Seventh Brigade, Seventh Division, Seventh Army Corps. During much of his period of service he engaged in scout duty. He was mustered out as first sergeant Au- gust 30, 1865, and some years afterward was granted a pension by the government.

On his return home Mr. Hopper began to operate a stationary engine. In the spring of 1866 he began building operations at Benton, Ill., where he erected the Masonic block and other buildings. For four years he served as city marshal, after which he became general superintendent of mason work for the St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad. April 4, 1874, he left Mount Vernon, Ill., and by team journeyed to Colorado, arriving in Pueblo Juue 4. For four months he followed contracting in that city, after which he came to Canon City, where he put up a number of buildings. In April, 1875, he set- tled on a ranch near his present location, but later spent five years on a ranch in Pueblo Coun- ty. In October, 1890, he came to Wetmore and bought his present place, where he has two fruit orchards and is also conducting a hotel. From 1892 to 1896 he was justice of the peace here. November 5, 1895, he was elected county judge and served for three years in that capacity. In 1875 and 1876 he served as constable. Prior to 1897 he attended every state convention of the Republican party, and he has always been a stanch adherent of that party. Besides what he has accumulated through his own efforts, he is one of twenty-two heirs to an estate of seventeen thousand acresin Middle Tennessee.

While on an Ohio River steamboat, of which he was head engineer, August 7, 1857, Mr. Hop- per married Mary E. Holman, of Kentucky, who died February 14, 1863, leaving two daughters: Alice R., now the wife of August Meiling, of Grand Junction, Colo .; and Flora L., wife of S. G. Vaughn, a farmer near Wetmore. For

his second wife Mr. Hopper chose Catherine Reece, who was born in Grainger County, Tenn., but at the time of her marriage was living in Franklin County, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Hopper are members of the Christian Church, in which he held an official position while in Missouri. Fra- ternally he is connected with A. J. Smith Post No. 102, G. A. R .; and Williams Lodge No. 242, I. O. O. F., at Spring Garden, Ill., which he joined August 10, 1867.

HOMAS CARTER KIRKWOOD, D. D., superintendent of missions for the synod of the Presbyterian Church in Colorado, and a resident of Colorado Springs since January, 1879, was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., November 14, 1837, a son of William B. and Margaret (Carter) Kirkwood. His grandfather, James Kirkwood, who was a member of an old Scotch family, was born near Edinburgh, and became a manufacturer of agricultural imple- ments and an inventor of some note. William B. Kirkwood, who was born and reared near Edin- burgh, had learned the business under his father, and this occupation he followed after emigrating to New York City. His wife, who was born in Earlston, Scotland, was a daughter of Thomas Carter, a manufacturer of cloth. She is now eighty-seven years of age, and makes her home with our subject. The latter was reared in the vicinity of his birthplace. In 1855 he went to Whitewater, Wis. Three years later lie entered the preparatory school at Beloit, and afterward studied in Beloit College until the close of the sophomore year, but was obliged to discontinue his work for a year on account of trouble with his eyes.

As soon as he was able to resume work, Mr. Kirkwood became a tutor iu Monmouth College, and while teaching he continued his studies until he graduated in 1864, with the degree of A. B. In order to fit himself for the ministry, in which he desired to engage, he entered the Seminary of the Northwest (now McCormick Theolog- ical Seminary) at Chicago, where he graduated. At the same time ( 1867) he was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and also received the degree of A. M. from his alma mater. His first appointment was as pastor of the Ful- lerton Avenue Presbyterian Church, Chicago, and after three years he accepted the pastorate of the Janesville (Wis.) Presbyterian Church, which position he held for three years. The ensuing

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five years were devoted to pastoral duties with the Fond du Lac Church, and at the same time he was trustee of Carroll College at Waukesha, Wis.

With the multiplicity of duties that fall to the lot of every earnest, conscientious pastor, the health of Mr. Kirkwood began to fail, and it became necessary for him to· seek a change of climate. In January, 1879, he came to Colorado Springs, and the genial climate of this far-famed health resort at once benefited him. In April of the same year he became pastor of the First Pres- byterian Church of this city, and this position he held until 1884, when he entered upon his work as superintendent of missions for the Presbyterian synod of Colorado, nominated by the synod and commissioned by the Presbyterian board of mis- sions in New York City. During the years that have since · passed he has established about seventy mission churches in the state of Colorado, all of which are active and growing. For five years he had charge of missions in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona, but the work entailed too great labor and it was divided, Colorado and Wyoming being left to his over- sight. In the spring of 1879 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Wooster University, Ohio. He is a member of the board of directors of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Omaha. He cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln in 1860, and has since stanchly adhered to the Republican party.

In 1890 Dr. Kirkwood built a residence at Lihue, adjoining Colorado Springs, and here he has a delightful abode. He was married in Chi- cago to Miss Sarah Stille Lord, who was born in Philadelphia, and educated in Brooklyn and Chicago. She is a lady of culture and tact, and a valuable assistant to her husband in all his work. At this writing she is president of the Woman's Society of Home Missions for Colorado and Wyoming. With the growth of the Presby- terian Church, and its important endeavors in missions, she has been familiar from childhood, having been reared in a Presbyterian home, where eminent representatives of that faith often congregated. Her father, Rev. Willis Lord, D. D., LL. D., was a prominent clergyman and professor of theology in the Seminary of the Northwest, making his home for some years in Chicago, but removing later to Denver and Colo- rado Springs. Dr. and Mrs. Kirkwood are the parents of seven children, all of whom were edu- cated in Colorado College except the two who

died in childhood. Willis Lord is now manager with the William Lennox Coal Company; Robert Carter is proprietor of a fruit ranch at Mountain View, Cal .; Thomas Carter, Jr., is bookkeeper with Giddings Brothers in Colorado Springs; Sarah Grace died in childhood; Margaret Hannah is cashier with Giddings Brothers; Alexander McDonald died August 1, 1898, at the age of fifteen years, just as he was preparing to enter Cutler Academy; Marion Rice is the youngest of the family. The children are intelligent, well educated and capable, and are deservedly held high in social and business circles, while they have many friends among their acquaintances here and in other places. The deceased son was a talented youth, whose gifts were of such a nature as to make his future prospects most hopeful, and his early death was a sad bereavement to the family.

ORMAN M. CAMPBELL, who is a snc- cessful attorney of Colorado Springs, was born in Osceola, Iowa, of Virginian descent. His grandfather, David Campbell, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, spent many years as a planter in Christian County, Ky., but died in Indiana. James M., father of our subject, was born in Christian County, whence in youth he removed to Indiana, and there married and en- gaged in farming. He became a pioneer farmer of Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa, where he im- proved a valuable farm. While serving as treas- urer of the county his death occurred, when he was fifty years of age. His second wife, who was born near Bloomington, Ind., bore the maiden name of Nancy Davis, and was a daughter of John Davis, a Virginian, who became a pioneer of In- diana, and served as a county official there.

Twice married, James M. Campbell had two children by his first marriage. One of these is now living, James, who served as an orderly in an Iowa regiment during the Civil war and is now a county commissioner at Nelson, Neb. Seven children were born of the second marriage, of whom four are living. David is living in Iowa; John is chief justice of the supreme court of Colo- rado, and one of the most eminent men of the state; William died in Nebraska; Monroe is a resident of Osceola; and the youngest, Norman M., was born on Christmas day of 1863, the year of his father's death. He was reared in his native village and attended the public schools there and the State University at Iowa City, where he grad-

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uated in 1886, with the degree of A. B. During Another son, Stephen, came to Colorado in early the last two years of his college course he was days and was engaged in the sheep business in Bijou Basin until his death. editor-in-chief of the college paper. At the time of graduating he was chosen class orator.

Coming to Colorado Springs in 1887, Mr. Camp- bell studied law, and also, for eighteen months, was clerk of the county court. He was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1888, and at once began the practice of his profession. Wishing to extend his information, he took a course of several months at Vale. In 1889 he went to Chicago, where for two years he made a special study of sociology and economics. Afterwards he spent one year in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he was a student in the department of economics. In 1893 he returned to Colorado Springs and resumed law practice, since which time he has been placed high in the list of attorneys in the city as an an- thority in corporation, commercial, civil and crim- inal law. Until the formation of the state board of law examiners he represented the fourth ju- dicial district as a member of the board of ex- aminers for admission to the bar. Heis a member of the Beta Theta Phi, of the University of Iowa. In politics he is stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party. Now in the prime of life, Mr. Campbell is an indefatigable worker, a close stu- dent, and has established a reputation as a capable and successful advocate.

12 ANIEL MAXWELL HOLDEN, a pioneer of 1859, 110w deceased, was born uear Ant- werp, N. Y., August 10, 1833. His father, Zophar Holden, a native of Vermont and a de- scendant of Scotch ancestry, settled near Ant- werp, Jefferson County, N. Y., where he engaged in farming until his death. He married Jerusha Harrison, who was born in Vermont and died in Warrensburg, Mo. They became the parents of eleven children, but all of these are now deceased. One of the sons, Maj. Nathaniel Holden, was receiver of the United States land office in War- saw, Mo., and owned large tracts of land occupied by the present town of Holden, which was named in his honor. During the war he was a member of a Missouri regiment and was assassinated by guerillas at his sister's home near Lee Summit. Another son, Lieut .- Gov. William Holden, who went to California in the days of the gold excite- ment, became a prominent politician and served as lieutenant-governor and for a short time as governor; also as state senator and a member of the legislature; his death occurred in California.

At sixteen years of age the subject of this me- moir went to Missouri, joining his older brother, Major Holden. Afterward he attended the acad- emy at Warrensburg and was employed in the United States land office, under his brother. In 1859, buying up a herd of cattle and horses, he came to Colorado, via the Arkansas route, and located on Cherry Creek, now within the city limits of Denver. Arriving there on the 13th of July he at once embarked in the dairy business, and later located a ranch in Bijou Basin. El Paso County, on the Elbert County line, near what is now Peyton. It was his custom for several years to return to Missouri every fall and buy cattle and horses, which he would drive to Colorado. Sev- eral times Indians threatened to attack him on his rauch, but he never had an encounter with them. His ranch comprised about fifteen hun- dred acres and had many springs, besides the ad- ditional advantage which irrigation gives. A natural shelter for the stock was afforded by the bluffs and pine trees found in abundance on the place. He made a specialty of raising graded Shorthorns, in which he met with success.

In 1872 Mr. Holden brought his family to Col- orado Springs. Here he assisted in the organi- zation of the Exchange National Bank, of which he served as a director from its establishment, and was president during the last six years of his life. He was also a stockholder in the El Paso Electric Company, owned considerable property in Colo- rado Springs, and had mining interests in Crip- ple Creek, Aspen and Silverton. He was an ac- tive member of the Colorado Cattle Growers' As- sociation. In the Society of Colorado Pioneers and the El Paso County Pioneers' Society he was a prominent member. Fraternally he was iden- tified with the Odd Fellows and politically was a Democrat.

At Franktown, Douglas County, Colo., No- vember 9, 1864, Mr. Holden married Miss Isabel Hayden, who was born in Elkhart, Ind. Her father, Lewis Hayden, a native of Indiana and a descendant of an Ohio family, removed to Iowa and settled at Hardin, where he built a flour mill and a lumber mill on the Iowa River. In 1863 he brought his family, by wagon, to Colorado, via the Platte route; spending three months in making the journey to Denver. He settled on Plum Creek, sixteen miles south of Denver, in

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Donglas County. After a year he moved to Bijou Basin, where he took up land and engaged in stock-raising. Later, however, he removed to Pleasant Valley. He died near Coaldale, in the Wet Mountain Valley, at sixty-five years of age. His wife, who was Margaret Williams, a native of Indiana, is still living near Coaldale, and is now seventy-nine years of age. Of their eight children six are living, Mrs. Holden being next to the youngest. Her brother, Frank, is ranch- ing in Lake County, Colo .; Lyman lives in Pleas- ant Valley; Chauncey resides at Coaldale; Mabel is the wife of William Champ and lives at Pon- cha Springs; and Hulda, Mrs. Robert Curran, lives at Coaldale. Mrs. Holden was sixteen years of age when the family came to Colorado, and since then she has made this state her home. She is identified with Rebekah Lodge, I. O.O.F., and is much esteemed by her acquaintances. She owns the ranch which was improved by Mr. Hol- den, and is also still interested in the bank of which he was president. Her family consists of six children, namely: Lawrence, a stockman in Elbert County, near Ramah; Zophar, who is en- gaged in the stock business in Elbert County near Calhan; Mrs. Edna Mathis, of Monument; Mrs. Olive Jennings, of Manhattan, Kan .; Erma, ed- ucated in the schools of Colorado Springs, and J. D., who are with their mother.

Mr. Holden died August 12, 1896, after a brief illness. He was buried from the Presbyterian Church, in which denomination he had been in- terested. In his death the city lost one of its respected pioneer citizens, a man who had been associated with the history of the state from the earliest days, and one who had many friends in every locality where he had resided. Kind and generous in his intercourse with others, liberal in his benefactions, public-spirited and progres- sive, his citizenship was of the highest type, and conduced to the advancement of Colorado Springs along the lines of commerce, finance, education and morality.

- RED P. STEVENS. All admirers of artis- tic work well remember the delight with which they viewed that beautiful picture, "Sunrise from Pike's Peak," when it first ap- peared in 1897. Nor has anyone forgotten the popularity into which it instantly sprang. Within less than a year twenty thousand copies had been sold, thus bringing to their publisher, who had

fortunately copyrighted the picture, a large finan- cial success. This is probably the most im- portant photographic success ever made in the country. The one whose skill and artistic ability originated this picture forms the subject of this article.

In 1898 the proprietor of one of the largest copying houses in the east, while visiting in Colorado Springs, became interested in Mr. Stevens' work and his success with "Sunrise" and entered into partnership with him in the es- tablishment of a western branch of the eastern business. Mr. Stevens subsequently bought out the other half of the business. Stevens Foto- graferie is located at Nos. 24-26 East Bijou street, being among the most modern and best equipped studios in the state. A specialty is made of the sale, both by retail and wholesale, of Colorado views and mountain scenery in the west, both colored and uncolored. Portrait sittings are given and interiors and animals artistically photo- graphed. The operating photographer is Mr. Kruger, a genius in his line, and whose work was awarded the first prize at tlie photographic con- vention of 1885.

Mr. Stevens is a young man, having been born July 19, 1872. His entire life (with the excep- tion of the time spent in college) has been passed in Colorado, and he is an enthusiastic admirer of this mountain state of the west. He was born near Spinney, Park County, about ten thousand feet above sea level. His father, H. Hoyt Stev- ens, was burned out in the great Chicago fire of 1871 and then removed to Colorado, where he en- gaged in the cattle business. In the spring of 1872 he shipped the first carload of grain into Colorado. In 1876 he came to Colorado Springs, and here the boyhood days of our subject were principally passed. At the age of seventeen he entered the St. Louis Manual Training School of Washington University, from which he grad- uated in 1892, ranking fourth among the sixty- one students of his class. In the fall of the same year he entered Cornell University, and there continued until his graduation in 1896, with the degree of M. E. While still in the university he became interested in amateur photography in a scientific way, and during his senior year he en- gaged in the business of making blue prints for students, by which means he defrayed a large part of his expenses. On his return to Colorado he became interested in scenic views, and his colored photographic work at once became very

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popular. In 1897 he made his colored picture, "Sunrise from Pike's Peak," for the use of which in their publications Harper's paid him a large sum, December 11, 1897, and in a subsequent issue devoted almost an entire page to the picture. He has recently patented a new picture, "Sunset over Pike's Peak," which promises to be even more successful than its predecessor.

B ERNAL B. MC REYNOLDS, acting chief of the fire department of Colorado Springs, and a resident of this city since boy hood, was born near Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa, December 1, 1871. The family of which he is a member came from Scotland to America. His grandfather, Rev. George W. McReynolds, was born in Pennsylvania, and became a pioneer Pres- byterian clergyman in Illinois, but later settled in Iowa, where he died; his father, who had been a farmer in Pennsylvania, died in Iowa when one hundred and three years of age.

The father of our subject, J. E. McReynolds, was born in Illinois, and learned the trade of blacksmith and wagonmaker. Through the en- tire period of the Civil war he served as a private in Company C, Eighteenth Iowa Infantry. After- ward he followed his trade in Iowa until 1873, when he removed to Nodaway County, Mo., and there engaged in farming and blacksmithing. In 1880 he came to Colorado Springs, where at first he worked at the carpenter's trade under W. S. Stratton, and later worked as a blacksmith for Bartlett. In 1885 he opened a shop at No. 116 South Cascade avenue, where he remained in business until 1887. He is now in Madison, Ind.

Our subject's mother was born in Ohio and bore the maiden name of Frances Duncan. Her father, who was of Scotch descent, engaged in farming in Ohio, but removed from there to Marion County, Iowa. Two of his sons served in the Civil war and one of them fell in battle. He was a stanch supporter of the Union cause and donated considerable money to aid in securing a victory for the government. He is now eighty- nine years of age and is making his home in Mis- souri. Our subject was the second among four children, the eldest of whom, Orville O., is a civil engineer with the Colorado Midland Rail- way Company; the third son, Clyde C., is first corporal of Company A, Torrey's Rough Riders, and is now stationed in Florida; the only daugh- ter, Daisy D., lives in Colorado Springs.

Until almost thirteen years of age our subject was reared in Missouri. In 1884 he accompanied his parents to Colorado Springs and the second day after he arrived here he began to work at the house-painter's trade for J. D. Turner. After two and one-half years with that gentleman he left, intending to enter school. His books were purchased and arrangements made to enter school, when Mr. Turner came to him and offered to raise his salary from $2.50 to $3 per day. He accepted the offer, and continued with him for six months, when he turned his attention to carriage painting, under J. H. Gardner. May 9, 1894, he was appointed a fireman, and has since been con- nected with the department.

When the old hose teams were in operation Mr. McReynolds was connected with the fire de- partment. In 1887 he assisted in organizing the C. B. Farrand Hose Company, of which he was foreman. The following year he was elected a member of the Crowell Hose Company, and in 1890 was chosen its foreman. During the same year his team went to Boulder and won the wet test in thirty and four-fifths seconds. November 14, 1891, he joined the Matt France Company, and continued in it until he became a member of the paid department, in which he was at first a hose man, and after two months was made cap- tain of Station No. 1. Eighteen months later he was made assistant chief, and in June, 1898, was appointed acting chief during the absence of the chief.

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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 64

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