Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 8

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 8

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In December, 1870, Mr. Grant went to Iowa, where he had an uncle in Davenport. Soon aft- erward he entered the Iowa Agricultural Col- lege, where he remained for two years. He then spent a year in Cornell, where he took a course in civil engineering. In 1874 he went to Freiburg, Saxony, Germany, where he studied mining and metallurgy for two years, then re- turning to the United States via Australia, New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands. Reaching this country in 1877 he at once located in Colo- rado and engaged in mining and assaying, but soon, in partnership with his uncle, started the Grant smelter at Leadville. In 1882 the concern was removed to Denver, where he has since made his home.

During 1882 Mr. Grant was nominated for governor on the Democratic ticket and enjoyed the distinction of being the first Democratic governor the state ever had. He entered upon the duties of office in Jannary, 1883, and served until Jan- nary, 1885. Besides holding this important of- fice he has been prominent in his party in other ways. In 1884 he was a delegate to the national convention at Chicago, where Grover Cleveland was first nominated for president, and at that convention was chairman of the Colorado delega- tion and chairman of the committee on permanent

organization. Another important position he has held is that of chairman of the state board of arbitration.

No biography of Governor Grant would be complete that failed to mention his interest in educational work. He is a champion of the pub- lic school system and one of its most earnest sup- porters. Of his time and influence he gives freely for the cause of free instruction to the youth of our land. In 1891 he was elected a member of the board of education in Denver, and he has served as its president for six years (since 1892), filling that responsible position with the same accuracy and efficiency he has endeavored to fill every position to which he has been called. In the moral training work, too, he is deeply in- terested, giving it the weight of his influence.

With a just pride in the record of his ancestors, he holds membership in the Sons of the Revolu- tion, and was honored by the state association by being elected its president. His marriage oc- curred in Leadville and united him with Miss Mary Matteson Goodell, the granddaughter of Joel A. Matteson, at one time governor of Illi- nois. Two sons, Lester E. and James B., Jr., have been born of this union. Mrs. Grant is a daughter of R. E. Goodell, who formerly en- gaged in farming in Illinois, but removed from there to Leadville, and now resides in Denver.

A public office is a public trust. Realizing this fact, Governor Grant, while occupying the gubernatorial chair, endeavored to discharge his duties honestly, faithfully and efficiently. His- tory attests that during his administration the industries for which the state is famous flourished and prospered. Settlers were attracted to the state in large numbers, new lines of business were opened and new industries inaugurated. Ranches were opened up for stock-raising, towns were founded, while mining continued, as before, to draw thousands of men to the mountains. The whole career of Governor Grant has been one of progress and will furnish numerous lessons to other generations. He rose above and conquered many obstacles in his life and his successes have been more the result of his indomitable will and courage than a chain of lucky circumstances. In his social life he was ably seconded by his wife, who by her rare tact and intelligence made many of the social functions of Denver a success.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ON. ALBERT W. MCINTIRE, governor of Colorado 1895-97, is a member of a family that has borne an active part in American history for many generations. The first of the name in this country was a Jacobite who came from Ayrshire in the Highlands of Scotland and settled in Delaware. He had a son, John, who was born in Delaware and was engaged in the transportation business between Maryland and Delaware until he was financially ruined by the British during the war of 1812.

Next in line of descent was Thomas McIntire, who was born near Dover, Del., but in early man- hood removed to Bellefonte, Center County, Pa., and engaged in farming. Prosperity attended his efforts and through industry and good business judgment he became one of the wealthy men of his locality. Unfortunately, in 1837 he endorsed the bonds of state officers and was obliged to pay the security, which caused his failure. He then removed to Cincinnati, where soon afterward he died of yellow fever. During the war of 1812 he served as a commissioned officer of the American army. He married a Miss Phillips, a native of Connecticut and member of the Society of Friends.

One of the children of Thomas was J. P. Mc- Intire, who was born in Bellefonte, Center County, Pa., and accompanied his father to Cincinnati. He was abont seventeen when the latter died, and upon him then devolved the responsibility of car- ing for his mother, five sisters and a brother. His first venture was a very successful one. From Pittsburg he went up the Monongahela to secure lumber for the manufacture of barrels. The weather was unpleasant and rains were fre- quent. He was obliged to wade and swim through creeks, carrying his pack on his back. Finally, however, he secured the lumber, cut it out and loaded a couple of boats he had hired for the pur- pose. When he reached the lock the dam was broken, but with the assistance of an Indian he succeeded in shooting the boats through the break, though he was almost drowned in the attempt. When he arrived in Pittsburg he found that the price of staves and hoop-poles had risen enor- mously and he sold off half his cargo for enough to pay for the whole and start him in business. He then engaged in the cooper's trade for a few years in Pittsburg, after which he became inter- ested in the coal mining and shipping business

near the city. During the war one of his boats was chartered by the government and he ran the rebel works at Vicksburg in order to take coal to the Union fleet below. In1 1867 he retired from business, and in 1894 he died in Pittsburg. In religion he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Governor McIntire's mother was Isabella A. Wills, a native of Pittsburg, Pa., and daughter of James and Mary (Thompson) Wills, natives of Belfast, Ireland. Her father, who came to Amer- ica in 1790 and settled in Washington County, Pa., was a prominent attorney of Pittsburg and about 1820 was elected state's attorney. During his term of office, while on his way home from Harrisburg, he died from the effects of a sun- stroke. In religious belief he was a Presbyterian. His wife was a babe when her father came to this country in 1790 and located in Washington Çoun- ty. Mrs. Isabella McIntire is now in her eigh- tieth year and makes her home in St. Louis with a daughter.

The older of the two children of his father's second marriage, Governor McIntire was born in Pittsburg, January 15, 1853. He was educated in private schools, the Newall Institute and Vale College, graduating from the latter in 1873, with the degree of A. B. He then entered Yale Law School, from which he graduated in 1875, receiv- ing the degree of LL. B., and admission to the

bar of Connecticut. He then returned to Pitts- burg, and passing the examination there was ad- mitted to the bar. In 1876 he went to Colorado, living alternately in Denver and the mountain regions until 1880, then turned his attention to the cattle business, in the San Luis Valley, being the owner of four thousand acres there that he still devotes to stock-raising and farming. In 1883 he was nominated for county judge by both the Republicans and Democrats and was of course elected, holding the position for three years, when he refused renomination. In the fall of 1886 he was candidate for representative from Conejos County, but was defeated by William H. Adams, a brother of Governor Adams. In the year 1889 he adjudicated the water rights for the Rio Grande River in Colorado. Two years later he was appointed judge of the twelfth judicial district by Governor Routt.

Having for years been prominent in the Repub- lican party, in 1894 he was made its candidate for

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

governor, his opponent being his predecessor in County, which was named in honor of his an- office, Hon. David H. Waite. He was elected by cestors. The maternal grandfather, Laurence Daly, was born in Ireland and at an early age settled in Kentucky, where he married. Some years later he moved to Missouri and engaged in teaching school, having among his pupils such men as Gen. John B. Clark, Colonel Switzler, and others who became distinguished in national history. Dr. Talbot graduated from the Jeffer- son Medical College of Philadelphia and after- ward practiced his profession in Fayette, Mo., where he died in 1858, at the age of fifty-four. His wife died at the family residence in Missouri in 1871. Of their family of six sons and three daughters, all survive with the exception of one daughter. nineteen thousand seven hundred and eight ma- jority over the Populist candidate, and began the duties of office January 8, 1895. During his ad- ministration he introduced a modification of the attachment law, providing that attachments could no longer be served upon overdue promissory notes and overdue book accounts, which was of the greatest assistance to debtors. The same thing had been attempted, unsuccessfully, by every legislature since 1881. He strongly urged upon the legislature the industrial employment of convict labor. During his term occurred the Wal- senburg lynching, which he settled in a manner satisfactory both to the Italian government and the secretary of state of the United States. He also handled the Leadville strike troubles, which occurred during his term. Since his retirement he has given his attention to his mining interests and private business affairs.

In New Haven, Conn., in 1873, occurred the marriage of Mr. McIntire to Miss Florence John- son, who was born in New York City, the daugh- ter of William L. Johnson, a manufacturer there. Three children were born of their marriage: Joseph Phillips, who is manager of the ranch in the San Luis Valley; Elizabeth Lord, deceased; and Dorothy. Fraternally Governor McIntire is a Knight Templar and member of the Shrine. He is connected with the Alpha Delta Phi, the Colo- rado Vale Association and the Denver Athletic Club. In politics he is a silver Republican. He is a man of broad information, especially in the direction of scientific subjects. He is also a lin- guist, speaking German, Spanish and French and reading Latin and Greek. His state papers show careful thought and preparation; and his message was declared, even by opposition papers, to be the peer of any of its kind ever issued in the state.

ALPH TALBOT, senior member of the law firm of Talbot, Denison & Wadley, of Denver, and president of the fire and police board, was born in Fayette, Howard County, Mo., August 17, 1850, and is the son of Dr. John A. and Alice (Daly) Talbot, natives of Maryland and Lexington, Ky., respectively. His paternal grandfather, John Talbot, resided on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Talbot

The fourth son in order of birth, the subject of this sketch was prepared for college in Kemper's Institute in Missouri. In 1868 he entered Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, from which he graduated in 1872 with the degree of A. B. For two years after completing his ed- ucation he taught Latin and modern history in St. Paul's school at Concord, N. H., which is the largest Episcopal school in America. He resigned to study abroad and went to Germany in 1874, entering Leipsic University, where he spent three years in the study of jurisprudence. He was admitted to the bar of Missouri in 1878 and opened an office in St. Louis, where he re- mained two years or more. In 1881 he came to Denver, where he has since engaged in profes- sional practice. Though always a stanch Dem- ocrat, he never sought office, and the first position that he held was in 1897, when the governor appointed him president of the fire and police board of Denver, and as such also became ex- officio fire commissioner.

In Mexico, Mo., Mr. Talbot married Miss Fannie (Jewell) Hardin, a descendant of the well- known family of Kentucky, who are prominently identified with the history of that state. She was born in Missouri, the daughter of Dr. Thomas J. Hardin, and when she was about seven years of age, ou account of her father's death, she was taken into the home of her uncle, ex-Governor Charles H. Hardin, of Missouri. For some years she was a student in the William Jewell Baptist College, Mr. Jewell having been a relative of the Hardin family. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Talbot are: Alice, Ralph, Jr., Charles

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Hardin, Robert and Laurence Daly. Fraternally Mr. Talbot is connected with Union Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M., of Denver, and in 1894 was grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of the state. While in Dartmouth he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He is connected with the bar associations of Denver and Colorado, and for eight years was one of the board of examiners for admission to the bar in the city of Denver.

3 SIDNEY BROWN, president of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company, of Den- ver. The family of which this gentleman is a prominent member was founded in America by Henry Brown, who emigrated from England to Salisbury, Mass., about 1639. Representing the fifth generation in descent from him was Moses Brown, born in East Kingston, N. H., in 1750, a soldier in the Revolution. He married Mary Hobbs, of Poplin, N. H., and afterward removed to Strafford, in Orange County, Vt. Their son, Reuben, was born in Strafford in 1797, and when a young man located in Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming. He died in 1863. His wife, who was a daughter of John and Laura (Bushnell) Hill, was born in Starksboro, Vt., and died in Denver in 1889, aged eighty-seven. She was a sister of Gen. Charles W. Hill, of Ohio, who during Governor Todd's administration was adjutant-general of Ohio, and assisted greatly in putting Ohio's quota of soldiers in the field during the war of the Rebellion, and cousin of Rev. Horace Bushnell, of Hartford, Conn., and Judge James Campbell, judge of the supreme court of Michigan.

On the mother's side Mr. Brown is a lineal de- scendant of Gen. Robert Sedgwick, colonist and soldier, who was born in England in 1600. The Sedgwicks came from among the mountains which form the borders of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Westmoreland, England, and suffered in the border wars of York and Lancaster. Gen. Rob- ert Sedgwick, the ancestor of the Sedgwicks of New England, became an inhabitant of Charles- town, Mass., June 3, 1636, and in 1637 a freeman of that town. His residence was in the market place, now the square near the site of the Bunker Hill Bank. He was captain of the first "Trained Band" in Charlestown. He was chosen represent-

ative in 1637 and for several successive years served in that capacity, and as selectman of Charlestown. From 1641 to 1648 he commanded the "Castle." In 1644 he was the first major of the Middlesex regiment. In 1645 he was com- missioned to take care of the fortifications of the town and the harbor. He was elected major- general May 26, 1652. In 1654 he visited Eng- land and engaged in the service of Cromwell as commander of a contemplated expedition against the Dutch of New York, but peace was made with them and he led the expedition against the French forts in Nova Scotia. He captured St. Johns, Port Royal and another fort. This vigor- ous action was so acceptable to Cromwell that the next year he was appointed to service in the West Indies. Jamaica had been captured and General Sedgwick was sent with a fleet to re-in- force General Venable. He arrived at the Bar- badoes August 27, 1655, and learned that Gener- al Venable had been repulsed. A council was formed to govern the island and manage the af- fairs. He was made commissioner for the gov- ernment and afterwards major-general and gov- ernor. Carlyle said he was very brave, zealous and pious. He was one of the most distinguished men of his time. He was an enterprising mer- chant. He built wharves on the shore east of the old ferry-built ways and the old tide walls. In 1643 he joined the younger Winthrop in starting the first iron works in America.

Charlestown has cause to remember the public spirit of General Sedgwick. He took a warm interest in its welfare and was constantly in its service. His regard for education is seen in his gifts to the college. He was a representative of the liberal Puritans of New England; religion was in all his thoughts and yet he openly opposed the prevailing intolerance. "He was nursed in the London Artillery Garden and was stout and active in all feats of war." While in London he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany and after coming to America was active in organizing the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, Mass., becoming its captain in 1640. He died in Jamaica May 24, 1656.

John Sidney Brown was next to the youngest of five children, the others being: Junius F., a member of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company; Mrs. Adelia Dayfoot, who died in Canada; Mrs. Hannah Gillett; and Charles H.,

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

who died in Denver. J. Sidney Brown was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, June 10, 1833, the son of Reuben and Betsey Horton (Hill) Brown. He was educated in public schools. In 1858 he joined his brother in Atchison, Kan., and they engaged in the manufacture of lumber. In 1861 he began freighting between Atchison and Den- ver, and made two trips that year with an ox- train, and early in 1862 he came with a mule train and founded the present business. The freighting business he continued until 1870, when it was discontinued. In 1864 one of his mule- train was attacked by Indians and destroyed.

The first location of the firm in Denver was on Blake street near Fifteenth, where they remained until 1876, and then removed to their present lo- cation on Wazee street. In 1893 the firm was incorporated under the name of the J. S. Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company, of which J. S. Brown is president, J. F. Brown vice-president, H. K. Brown secretary, F. S. Brown treasurer and F. A. Hall general manager. The firm erected the first roller flouring mill and grain ele- vator in Colorado, ou the present site of the Cres- cent mill. They were interested in the organiza- tion of the Bank of San Juan, at Del Norte, also in the founding of the banks at Alamosa and Du- rango, and took an active part in the organization . of the Denver Tramway Company. In 1882 they embarked in the stock business in the Platte Val- ley, where they are still extensively interested. The Brown-Iliff Cattle Company have a large ranch near Snyder, Colo., between South Platte River and the Wyoming state line, the range be- ing owned principally by the land company of which J. F. Brown is president.

In the building of railroads Mr. Brown is in- terested. He was a director in the South Park line, assisted in the building of the Denver Pacific Railroad, between Denver and Cheyenne, was a promoter, director and vice-president of the Den- ver & New Orleans Railroad, and assisted in other enterprises of an important nature. Only one man in Denver has been engaged in the same line of business continuously for a longer period than Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown was married to Miss Irene Sopris, in Denver, in 1868. She was born in Indiana, a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Allen) Sopris, and died in January, 1881, leaving five chil- dren, viz .: Frederick S., treasurer of the J. S.

Brown & Bro. Mercantile Company; Elizabeth, Mrs. A. B. Inglis, of Paterson, N. J .; Edward N .; who is with J. S. Brown & Bro .; Katherine and William K., the latter a member of the class of 1900, Sheffield Scientific School, of Yale Univer- sity.

The present wife of Mr. Brown was Miss Adele Overton, who was born in Wisconsin. She grad- uated from the University of Wisconsin in 1871, with the degree of B. S., and the same year came to Colorado, where she was assistant principal in the Denver high school. She is a member of the Daughters of the Revolution and treasurer of the Colorado State Society. She is the mother of five children now living: John Sidney, Jr., Ben Overton, Carroll Teller, Alice and Irene. The father of Mrs. Brown, John Overton, was born near London, England, May 11, 1822, and died at Parker, S. Dak., May 14, 1888. His parents, Robert and Maria (Roy) Overton, came to Amer- ica and died in Wisconsin. He was their young- est child and only son, and was eighteen years old when he came to this country. His wife, Lucina Otto, was born in New York in 1824, and died in Parker, S. Dak., in 1892. She was a daughter of John Otto and Maria (Teller) Otto, the latter a descendant of Dr. Isaac Teller, a Revolutionary soldier. Senator Teller's father, . John Teller, late of Morrison, Il1., was a brother of Maria (Teller) Otto; while Senator Jerome B. Chaf- fee was a son of John Otto's sister. The originator of the Teller family in America was William Tel- ler, born in 1620 in Holland, emigrated to Amer- ica in 1639, settled in Fort Orange and appointed by the king of Holland a trustee for a tract of land there, but in 1664 he returned to New York City and married Mary Douchen. From them descended Dr. Isaac Teller, who lived on the cor- ner of Chambers and Broadway, New York, and died while serving as a surgeon in the Revolution. He married Rebecca Remsen, of Brooklyn. Their son, Remsen Teller, who was born about 1769, married Catherine Mac- Donald, of Ballston Spa, N. Y., daughter of David and Sarah (DuBois) MacDonald, and grand- daughter of Col. Louis DuBois, of Ulster, N. Y., who was a colonel in the Revolution. Remsen and Catherine Teller had a daughter, Maria, who married John Otto, a native of Schoharie County, N. Y., and a son of Franz Otto, who served during the entire period of the Revolution.

PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

The originator of the Otto family in America was Rudolph Otto, born in Baden-Baden, Ger- many, in 1715, and settled in Schoharie County, N. Y., in 1741. He had two sons, John and Franz, or Francis. The latter, born in 1757 and died at the age of ninety-six, married Barbara Schultz, later moving to Mount Morris, Livingston County, N. Y. Among their nine children was John, born in 1796. He was a brother of Mrs. Eliza- beth Chaffee, who was the mother of Jerome B. Chaffee, United States senator and one of the most prominent mining men of the state of Colorado.

In fraternal relations Mr. Brown is a Knight Templar Mason. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution. Politically he gives his affilia- tion to the silver branch of the Republican party. As a director he has been actively interested in the Colorado Cattle Growers' Association, and has done all within his power to promote the in- dustry which is so vitally connected with the wel- fare of the state. He attends the First Congre- gational Church and contributes liberally to its support, as, indeed, he does to all enterprises of a religious and philanthropic nature.

ROF. WARREN EZRA KNAPP, superin- tendent of public instruction of Arapahoe County, is a member of a family that traces its lineage back to Saxony and to Scotland. For many generations its representatives have been identified with the history of the United States. From Connecticut Oliver Pickett Knapp removed to Westmoreland, Oneida County, N. Y., where he died at an advanced age. His son, Ezra Ab- bott Knapp, was born near Fairfield, Conn., and removed to Oneida County, N. Y., where he en- gaged in farming until his death, in December, 1841, at the age of forty-three years and eight months. When a mere lad he had taken part in the battle of Sacket Harbor. He married So- phronia Waters, who was born in Connecticut, and accompanied her father, Elijah Waters, to New York state, where he followed the carpen- ter's trade.

In the family of Ezra Abbott Knapp there was a son, the oldest of the family, Edwin A. Knapp, M. D., who served as surgeon of the One Hun- dred and Twenty-second New York Infantry, during the Civil war, and died in Syracuse, N. Y. Another son, Jairus S., who was the third among

the six children of the family, was born in West- moreland, Oneida County, N. Y., May 8, 1825, and grew to manhood on the home farm. He made farming his life work, and for fifty-four years tilled the soil of the old homestead. Mean- time he held a number of local offices and took part in many enterprises for the benefit of the town and county. In 1891 he retired from farm- ing and has since resided in Denver.

In 1849 Jairus S. Knapp married Harriet A. Kellogg, who was born in Westmoreland, N. Y., January 31, 1825, being a descendant of one of the passengers of the historic "Mayflower." She was a daughter of Deacon Warren Kellogg, who was born in Hartford, Conn., and became an early settler of Oneida County, N. Y., where he engaged in farming and carpentering. He died in 1869, at the age of ninety. His father was Abraham Kellogg.

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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 8

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