Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 82

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 82

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The education of our subject was obtained in public schools and a commercial college. For three years he was employed in the custom house in Chicago. When twenty-three years of age he went to Texas and began to raise cotton and sugar cane, but owing to the ravages of the army worm the venture was a failure. Returning to Illinois, he worked on his father's farm for two years, after which he went to Wyoming, expect- ing to secure work in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, but in this he was disappointed. Not wanting to return east, he secured work in a camp and later was employed in cutting cord wood. In 1867, at the solicitation of his brother, who was with him, he returned to Illinois, but his personal preference inclined him toward re- maining on the frontier. He worked in his father's cheese factory until the spring of 1871, when he came to Colorado, and here he has since engaged in farm pursuits and the stock business. He is a stockholder in the Wet Mountain Cream- ery at Westcliffe, and is also interested in min- ing, as a stockholder in the Bull Domingo mine in Custer County.

For six years Mr. Kennicott has served as county commissioner, to which office he was elected on the Republican ticket. In 1871 he married Mary Thorp, by whom he had a daugh-

ter, Mary Louise. After the death of this wife he was again married, March 22, 1882, being united with Minnie, daughter of Charles Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio. They have two children, Eugenia Ransom and Anna Townsend.

ON. MICHAEL BESHOAR, M. D., a pio- neer of '67 in Trinidad, has long been one of the most influential citizens of this place, with the growth and progress of which he has been intimately associated. Not alone in his pro- fession, but also in political life and the newspa- per business he has attained prominence. In 1881 he established the Advertiser, a well-known paper of Trinidad, which he conducted until 1897, and then sold. With the exception of General West, of Golden, he is the oldest editor in the en- tire state. He is also, in point of years of prac- tice, the oldest physician in Trinidad, as well as one of the oldest in Colorado.

Dr. Beshoar was born and reared near Lewis- town, Mifflin County, Pa., a son of Daniel and Susan (Rothrock) Beshoar. His father, who was a native of Cumberland County, Pa., followed farming as his life occupation, and also engaged in speculating to some extent. He died in Indi- ana at the age of sixty-five, and his wife, in Penn- sylvania, in 1848, when thirty-five years of age. Of their ten children, four are living: Michael, Anna, Hannah and Asenath. Our subject was ed- ucated in public schools and Tuscarora Academy, at Academia. At eighteen years of age he began to study medicine under Drs. Hoover and Morse, in his native county, and afterward attended the Philadelphia Medical College, Jefferson Medical College and the medical department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, finally graduating from the University of Michigan in 1853, with the de- gree of M. D.

The doctor's first location for practice was at Pocahontas, Ark., where he remained for ten years. In 1861 he acted as surgeon of the Sev- enth Arkansas Infantry, and in 1862 became med- ical director of General Hardy's command. After the battle of Shiloh he was transferred to the de- partment of the Mississippi and continued to serve until the fall of 1863, when he was captured with "Jeff" Thompson and his quartermaster. He was given his liberty in the city of St. Louis under bond, and while there, a prisoner under bond, he took a post-graduate course in the St. Louis Medical College. Meantime lie became convinced that the southern cause was hopeless

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and that surrender might as well be made at once, thus saving thousands of lives. On being released as a prisoner of war, he agreed to at- tend the refugee women and children at Benton Barracks, having been solicited to take this work by Dr. Madison Mills. As acting assistant sur- geon he was connected with the St. Louis post hospital, and Jefferson Barracks hospital, after which he was placed in charge of the post hospi- tal at Fort Kearney, Neb., and at the same time was made medical purveyor for all the territories.

Resigning this position in the fall of 1866, Dr. Beshoar came to Pueblo, Colo., and opened the first drug store ever established between Denver and Santa Fe. In 1868 he established the only news- paper in that town, which paper is now the well- known Pueblo Chieftain. From Pueblo he came to Trinidad in 1867, however, still continuing his newspaper business in the former city. The trip between the two towns he made on horseback in one and one-half days. In the fall of 1867 he was elected to the territorial legislature (capital at Golden), but was defrauded out of his seat by the opposing party. He has made Trinidad his home since 1869 and has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession.

Politically a Democrat, on his party ticket Dr. Beshoar has been elected county assessor, county coroner, county clerk and county judge (which office he filled for seven years) and he is now serving his fourth term as county superintendent of schools. At the first state election, in 1876, he was the regular Democratic nominee for lieu- tenant-governor. Afterward he served for one term in the lower house of the state legislature. Prior to the war he also served two terms as a member of the Arkansas legislature. He was the first vice-president of the Trinidad Chamber of Commerce, which position he now holds. Be- sides his landed interests in Arkansas and Colo- rado he has extensive mining interests in Mexico, having purchased one of the famous old mines there known as the Temerosa mine.

The Las Animas County and Colorado State Medical Societies, American Medical Association and American Public Health Association number Dr. Beshoar among their members, and he is also a member of the Pan-American Medical Congress. Fraternally he is a member of Las Animas Lodge No. 28, A. F. & A. M., in which he is past mas- ter and which he represents in the grand lodge; also the Colorado Consistory, Scottish Rite, and socially he is connected with the Trinidad Club.

In 1872 he married Anna E. Maupin, and they have five children: Bonnie, who is deputy county superintendent of schools; Burnie, Ben, John and Bertram.

During the long period of his activity in the west, Dr. Beshoar has met many famous men, among them the scout, Kit Carson, who was his personal friend. Among his other friends of early days were such men as Gov. Henry M. Rec- tor, of Arkansas, Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, "Jeff" Thompson, General Hardy, Col. Albert G. Boone, Gen. Elwell Otis, etc. Dr. Beshoar and Hon. A. H. Garland, ex-attorney-general of the United States, served in the Arkansas legis- lature at the same time.

The Medical and Surgical Register of the United States and Canada (1898) has the following ref- erence to the subject of this sketch: "Beshoar, Michael; University of Michigan medical depart- ment 1853, member American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, Colorado State Medical Society, Las Animas County Med- ical Society, and Pan-American Medical Con- gress; surgical and medical director in Confeder- ate army two and one-half years, and A. A. sur- geon United States Army two and one-half years, until after the close of the late war; founder of Daily Chieftain, Pueblo, Colo., in 1868; managing editor Daily Advertiser, Trinidad, Colo., since its foundation in 1881; member of the Colorado Ed- itorial Association and county superintendent of schools, serving fourth term; office southwest cor- ner First and Convent streets."

ON. JAMES G. JOHNSTON, who was formerly state senator from Fremont County and is an influential citizen of Florence, - - was born in Mercer County, Pa., December 18, 1864, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. His grand- father, James Alexander Johnston, came to America, accompanied by his wife, about 1820, settling in Pennsylvania and engaging in farm pursuits. His seven children were born in Pennsylvania. Of these, James, who was the second in order of birth, was educated in common schools, and grew to manhood on the home farm. When only twenty years of age he became a pioneer in the oil business, and assisted in put- ting down the third well that was sunk. From that time until the present he has engaged con- tinuously in the oil industry in Pennsylvania and has met with success in his work. He is a man of fine physique, and stands six feet one, without

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shoes; his strength, too, is remarkable and his health always excellent. In politics he has from youth affiliated with the Democrats. He is a man of Christian character and is an elder in the United Presbyterian Church. By his marriage to Sarah Young, of Pennsylvania, eight children were born, the eldest of whom died in infancy, and the third, Sarah, is also deceased; Martha is the wife of William Rossman; there are four other daughters, all at home.

The only son in the family and the second child, James G., forms the subject of this sketch. He obtained his primary education in public schools. At eighteen years of age he took a course of study in the Grove City College, after which he taught school for five years. Having earned his own way in life from the age of twelve, he thoroughly appreciated an education and was careful and conscientious as a teacher, doing all he could to advance his pupils. In the spring of 1889 he came to Colorado, more particularly for the benefit of the climate, but also because of the opportunities offered to a young man of energy and ability. His first work in this state was in the employ of the Rocky Mountain Oil Company, for whom he worked both in the office and the field for five years. Since then he has been interested in the oil business on his own account, although his time has been given principally to his mining interests in the Cripple Creek district. He is now developing the Four Brothers mine, on Beacon Hill, which is an especially promising property, assays that have been made a depth of one hundred and twelve feet running as high as $2,700.

Politically Mr. Johnston is a Populist and has taken an active interest in the welfare of his party, to which he has given much time, attend- ing conventions and advising with the local party leaders. That his services were appreciated is shown by the fact of his election to the state senate in 1892, for a term of four years. He was the youngest member of the ninth and tenth general assemblies. In the ninth he was chair- man of the committee on state affairs that recom- mended the completion of the state capitol in marble instead of wood. He took special in- terest in labor legislation, doing all that was possible in behalf of the eight-hour law, and en1- deavoring to regulate the employer's liability. In the tenth assembly he lacked but two votes of being made president pro tem. As chairman of the committee on educational instruction he gave

particular attention to educational matters during his term. The anti-truck store bill he introduced in the senate, where it was passed, but it suffered defeat in the house, which was also the fate of the anti-trust bill, a measure that he promoted. His work in behalf of the people whom he repre- sented was ably done and obtained for him their lasting regard, besides which it gave him a stand- ing in the senate that many an older politician has sought in vain.

At this writing Mr. Johnston is serving for a second term as secretary of the board of educa- tion. Other matters connected with the educa- tional, business or political interests of Florence have received his co-operation. He is well endowed intellectually and is of a forceful, reso- lute character, with keen mental faculties and possesses in an abundant degree those vigorous traits that mark a public-spirited man and pro- gressive citizen. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church and assists in its activities. In fraternal relations he is connected with Fremont Lodge No. 97, A. F. & A. M., and Florence Lodge No. 67, Woodmen of the World. February 22, 1888, he was united in marriage with Ella V., daughter of Elias Yoter, of Frank- lin, Pa., and they have one child, a daughter, Ruth.

APT. WILLIAM MEREDITH, deceased, was numbered among the honored pioneers of Pueblo County, who aided in reclaiming the wild lands for purposes of civilization and transforming the unimproved region into the homes of a contented and prosperous people. He was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, August 15, 1831, and was a representative of an old Maryland family. His father, Jesse Meredith, was a minister of the Baptist Church, and during the Mexican war served his country as captain of a company which was organized in Coshocton County.

To the common schools of his native county William Meredith was indebted for the educa- tional privileges he received. At the age of twenty-four he removed to De Kalb County, Mo., where he engaged in farming for eighteen years. During the Civil war he joined a six months' regiment as drummer, was later pro- moted to the rank of second lieutenant, and on the death of the captain was chosen to command Company H, of the Missouri State Militia, with which he served until the close of hostilities. He

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took part in many battles against Price, includ- ing the engagement at Blue Ridge, and at one time marched up a hill with five hundred men against Price, who had thirty thousand, and who was defeated in the engagement, the Union forces losing not a singe man.

At the close of the war Captain Meredith con- tinted to live in Missouri, where he carried on agricultural pursuits for some time. He also lived in New Mexico for a time and owned a good ranch in the Raton Mountains, but was obliged to leave on account of the trouble caused by Indians, after hiding from them for three days and three nights. In 1874 he came to Colorado and secured a homestead adjoining the town of Rye. This is the property now owned by his heirs, but the present finely developed farm bears little resemblance to the unimproved tract of which he took possession. Not a furrow had then been turned or an improvement made, but with his usual energy he began the development of the wild land. He built a fine residence, a substan- tial barn, planted an excellent orchard, and by well-kept fences divided the place into fields of convenient size. Rich harvests were gathered and brought to the owner a good income, and ultimately he became one of the well-to-do agri- culturists of the community.

In 1851 Captain Meredith married Elizabeth Pritchard, a native of Ohio. Her father, John Pritchard, was a farmer, and her paternal grand- father was a minister of the Baptist Church, while her maternal grandfather served his country as a soldier in the war of 1812. To the captain and his wife were born seven children: Obed Pierce, who died during the Civil war; Marion M., a merchant of Rye; Martha Alice, who became the wife of John Mitchell, and died leaving four children; Sarah J., wife of George Sears, of Pueblo County; William L., who died in Missouri; Mrs. L. P. Gray, of Denver; and Frank E., who operates the home farm. Mrs. Meredith died at her residence in Rye, February 7, 1899, and was buried by the side of her husband in the cemetery at this place. Both she and her husband were members of the Baptist Church, in which he served as a deacon.

In his political affiliations Captain Meredith was a stanch Republican. He was twice elected county commissioner of Pueblo County, and for a number of years acceptably filled the office of justice of the peace. He was a valued member of the Masonic fraternity. In business matters

his sound judgment and untiring industry brought him success and his honorable dealings won him the confidence of all. He died May 11, 1893, at the age of sixty-two years, and the com- munity mourned the loss of one of its leading representatives, his church a consistent member, his neighbors a considerate friend and his family a loving husband and father.

OBERT A. GILMORE, a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of Nepesta, Pueblo County, has been identified with this section of the Union for almost forty years, and has con- tributed to its material progress and development in no small degree. He early had the sagacity to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this country, and acting in accordance with the dictates of his judgment he has reaped, in the fullness of time, the generous bene- fits which are the just recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and marvelous en- terprise.

The boyhood and youth of our subject were passed in Canada and Illinois, having located in that state in 1855, and in the schools of Chi- cago he obtained a limited education. He is, however, almost wholly self educated, studying at night and during his leisure hours, and thus improving every spare minute of his time. In 1860 he came to Colorado and located at Central City, where he was engaged in mining and ranch- ing for eight years. At one time he owned a farm where the city of Evans now stands, and for several years was connected with the Phelps & Gilmore Gold Mining Company, on Trail Run. In 1868 he settled upon his present ranch in Pueblo County, to the improvement and cultiva- tion of which he has since devoted his energies with marked success. He has a fine orchard, which contains fruits of all kinds, and in 1898 he sold over two thousand boxes of apples and over two hundred bushels of peaches from his place.

Mr. Gilmore has met with many adventures since coming to this state, some of which were very unpleasant. When within a day's journey of Denver he met a train of seven hundred wagons loaded with white people who were re- turning to the east. They told him all kinds of discouraging stories of how the settlers in Colo- rado were suffering from hunger, but these re- ports did not deter him from locating here. The country at that time was all wild and uuimproved,

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very few settlements had been made and no rail- roads built. The Indians were hostile and on the war-path much of the time. The Utes were en- gaged in war with the Cheyennes and several white settlers near Mr. Gilmore's place lost their lives at the hands of the redmen, and these he assisted in burying. Droves of sometimes five hundred with their war-paint on would stop at his home and devour everything eatable upon the place. In 1870 a music teacher came running to his house with the report that five hundred Indians were approaching, and the chief of these had the scalps of the many Cheyennes which he had killed. Several times before his marriage Mr. Gilmore was compelled to take his two nieces, who were living with him, to the forts for pro- tection. He has probably had as much experi- ence with the Indians as any other man in the state. Several times he crossed the plains from Iowa City to Colorado. He was just behind the wagon train when a Missourian shot a squaw and the Indians demanded the man who committed the deed, threatening to kill all the white men if he was not delivered to them. He was finally taken and skinned alive. This seemed to appease their wrath and the remainder of the company were unmolested. That time Mr. Gilmore wit- nessed one of their war dances. He was several times driven from his ranch by the redmen, and experienced many other hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, being at times nearly frozen to death in crossing the plains.

In 1870 Mr. Gilmore was united in marriage with Miss Flora Turner, a daughter of Maj. Luther Turner, who belonged to an old Maine family, and was a Tory during the threatened war with France in 1836. Mrs. Gilmore came to Colorado on account of her health, weighing at that time only one hundred and thirteen pounds, but so beneficial has the climate proved that she now weighs nearly two hundred. To our subject and his wife have been born three sons and two daughters. Adrian A., who attends to the rais- ing of fruit on the home farm, is married and has one child; George Henry and Walter Frank are both at home; Margaret Viola is the wife of E. B. Clark, the present county clerk of Dolores County, Colo .; and Ellen is at home. All were born on the old homestead in Pueblo County, and were educated in the same school. In his political affiliations Mr. Gilmore is a Republican, and for several years has most creditably and satisfactorily filled the office of justice of the

peace. He has also been the government corres- pondent on the condition of crops, etc., in this region. Both he and his wife are faithful and active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with which they have been officially connected, and they have the respect and esteem of all who know them.

ENRY LLOYD, assessor of Fremont Coun- ty, was born at Newcastle under Lyne, in Staffordshire, England, April 16, 1857, and is the only survivor of the two children of John and Sarah (Unwin) Lloyd. In 1860 he came to the United States with his father and settled in Belleville, St. Clair County, Ill., where he at- tended school, and his father followed the tailor's trade. Early in life he began to be interested in mining there and is still interested in a coal mine, of which he was at one time the sole owner. Owing to the strike of 1877 he ceased mining and came to Colorado. After a brief stop in Pueblo he came to Coal Creek, Fremont County, and secured employment with the Colorado Coal and Iron Company. After ten years in the mines he was elected to his present office of assessor.

Politically Mr. Lloyd has always been a Re- publican, but in 1896 joined the silver wing of the party. He takes an active interest in local matters and has given considerable time to assist- ing in the development of local interests and en- terprises. For five years he held the office of town clerk of Coal Creek, and he has served in a similar capacity in South Canon ever since the town was incorporated. During his residence in Coal Creek he was elected mayor, being the first salaried incumbent of that office. In the fall of 1889 he was nominated and elected assessor and has been successively re-elected at every ensuing election. The business of the office is now double what it was at the time he was first elected, but, notwithstanding this large increase, he handles it with efficiency and is thoroughly posted concerning ownership in the entire coun- ty. Since 1879 he has been interested in gold and silver mining, and now owns interests in Cripple Creek and the Black Mountain country.

In fraternal matters Mr. Lloyd is a member of Coal Creek Lodge No. 32, I. O. O. F., in which he is past grand, and is also past chief patriarch of the encampment; he has attended the grand lodge in Denver. In Masonary he is connected with Eureka Lodge No. 66, A. F. & A. M .; Canon City Chapter No. 14, R. A. M., and

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Canon City Council No. 5. October 14, 1887, he married Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Martha Ewart, of Coal Creek. Her father was grand master of the Orangemen in Ayr, within a few miles of the birthplace of the famous poet, Robert Burns. To Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd were born four sons and one daughter, namely: Martha, John, Samuel (deceased), Henry and Earl.

EORGE SEARS is one of the most success- ful merchants as well as most extensive stockmen in the southern part of Pueblo County. While for the purpose of educating his children he has established his home in the city of Pueblo, the larger part of his time is necessa- rily spent upon his ranch or in his stores at Green- horn and Rye. He is a man of great enterprise, as is shown by the fact that he began for himself without capital and has accumulated a compe- tency, solely by his own exertions.

A native of Germany, born March 5, 1847, the subject of this sketch was three years of age when he was brought to America by his parents, Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Mannel) Sears, who were natives of the same place as their son. The father, who had carried on a brickyard and mer- cantile store in Germany, after coming to America in 1850, settled at Valparaiso, Ind., near which city he purchased a farm. He continued to re- side there until his death, in the fall of -1897, when eighty-eight years of age. Both in Ger- many and the United States he identified himself with the Lutheran Church. During his later years he voted the Republican ticket. His wife died in 1892, at sixty-eight years of age. She, too, was a devoted Lutheran in religious belief. Of their children, George alone survives. He was edu- cated in the Valparaiso public schools. At the age of twenty-one he began railroading and for eighteen months was freight conductor on the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Railroad.

In the spring of 1872 Mr. Sears came to Colo- rado and settled on a squatter's claim on precinct No. 35, where Greenhorn postoffice now stands. Later he homesteaded the property. He con- tinued to reside there until 1897, when, on ac- count of his wife's poor health and the necessity of securing better advantages for the children, he brought his family to Pueblo. Soon after coming to this county he built a store room and opened a general mercantile business at Greenhorn. In

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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 82

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