Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 83

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 83

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addition to managing this business, he also served as postmaster from 1874 until February, 1895. In 1887 he opened a store at Rye, five miles from Greenhorn, and this he still conducts. On his ranch he has cattle, horses and mules in large numbers. In 1895 he went to Texas, hoping that the change might be of benefit to his wife, and while there he engaged extensively in the stock business. Politically he is an active Re- publican and takes an interest in local affairs. He is connected with Pueblo Lodge No. 8, I. O. O. F.

To the marriage of Mr. Sears with Miss Ber- tha Jones was born a son, Robert W., who has spent his entire life on the home ranch at Green- horn and is now postmaster at that office, also takes charge of the stock business. November 7, 1883, Mr. Sears married Sarah Jane Meredith, of Rye, daughter of Capt. William Meredith, who was a pioneer of Pueblo County, twice served as county commissioner, took an active part in the councils of the Republican party and the Grand Army of the Republic, and founded the town of Rye, which was built on his farm. He was a native of Ohio, thence removed to Missouri, and during the war raised Company B, at Sedalia, of which he was appointed captain by Governor Hamilton. The full details of his life appear on another page. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Sears are: George Meredith, Edna Celestine, Carl Aubrey, Myrtle Elizabeth and Marion Monroe, all of whom are at home.

C AMES R. DRESSOR was born in 1858 at Greenville, Bond County, Ill., a town situ- ated on the St. Louis & Vandalia Railroad. His father, Francis Dressor, was a native of Maine, but at an early age removed to Illinois, where he became an extensive and prosperous farmer. During the Civil war he enlisted with the one-hundred-day men, and would have taken an active part at the front, had it not been that the people in his section of the state insisted that a sufficient number of men be kept there for home protection. For years he has taken a prom- inent part in local affairs. He is now living re- tired from farm cares, although he still retains the management of his extensive business in- terests. By his marriage to Mary Ellen Rankin, a native of Illinois, he had three sons and one daughter. Of these, John C. is a prominent lum- ber merchant in Illinois; William Francis suc-

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ceeded his father in the management of the home farm; and Lucy J. is a teacher of elocution at Butler, Mo.

In the public schools of his native state our subject obtained his primary education. He afterward completed the farmers' course in the Illinois State University at Champaign, where he received his diploma in 1882. Later he en- tered the Bryant & Stratton Business College, from which he graduated in 1884. Soon after he completed his studies in college he purchased a farm at Newton, Kan., and spent five years in the cultivation and improvement of the same. By the expiration of that time he had decided that another occupation would be more congenial, and he entered the employ of the Newton Buggy Com- pany, with whom he remained for three years as bookkeeper. From that place he came to Colo- rado, settling in Pueblo in March, 1891. He embarked in the carriage business under the firm name of the Pueblo Carriage Company, with K. G. Conkling and H. L. Johnston, who have since retired from the firm. Their trade was small and unimportant at first, but it has gradually grown into a very satisfactory business. The firm was incorporated in 1896 and in 1897 Mr. Dressor became president of the company. At the plant, which is located at No. 313 Court street, quite a number of men are employed, and fine buggies, wagons and vehicles of all kinds are manufactured and sold.

In 1885 Mr. Dressor married Miss Leona Boyd Conkling, of Tecumseh, Mich., and the union was blessed by two daughters, Edith Amie and Mar- garet. He takes an interest in political affairs and supports Republican principles. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. With his wife he holds membership in the First Presbyterian Church of Pueblo. For several years he officiated as an elder of the church, and served as superintendent of the Sunday-school.

OHN G. AUSTIN. The deserved reward of a well-spent life is an honored retirement from business in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. To-day, after a useful and beneficial career, Mr. Austin is quietly living at his pleas- ant home in Rye, Pueblo County, surrounded by the comfort that earnest labor has brought him. He is one of the honored pioneers of the state, and for many years was actively identified with its mining, farming and stock-raising interests.

Mr. Austin is a native of Illinois, born in Ful-

ton County, April 12, 1839, and is a son of H. T. Austin, who is still living at the ripe old age of eighty-nine years, and makes his home near Rye, Pueblo County. He was one of the first settlers of Illinois, and came to Colorado in 1865. Throughout his active business life he followed the occupations of farming and stock-raising, and is quite well preserved for one of his years, ap- pearing much younger than he really is. He. was a soldier in the Black Hawk war and is hon- ored and respected by all who know him. The mother of our subject, whose family name was Collins, died during his boyhood.

In the county of his nativity John G. Austin' was reared and educated in much the usual man- ner of farmer boys of his day. On attaining his majority he went to Missouri and located in Ma- con County, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising for a short time. The year 1860 witnessed his arrival in Colorado, and he located first in California Gulch, near Leadville, where he engaged in mining for about five years. He then went to Denver, and for two years followed mining in the mountains near that place. In 1867 he went to Boulder, where for two years he was engaged in the same occupation, and in 1870 came to Pueblo County, settling upon a ranch on Graneros Creek, about four miles from Rye. This place, which he still owns, consists of three hundred and twenty acres that he has transformed from a wild tract into one of the most desirable ranches in the locality. There he made his home until his removal to Rye two years ago, his at- tention being devoted to farming and stock-rais- ing. He built a good residence in Rye and is now spending his declining days in ease and quiet, having laid aside all business cares.

In 1877 Mr. Austin married Mrs. Jane C. Frink, née Convers, who was born at Waterford, Pa., about fifteen miles from Erie, and is a daugh- ter of George Convers, a native of Vermont and a farmer by occupation. Her first husband was Alonzo Frink, a soldier of the Civil war, who en- listed in the Second Iowa Infantry and served all through the struggle. He died leaving a family of six children, namely: James A., a farmer and stockman, of Montezuma Valley, Colo .; Mrs. Jane Walters, whose husband is a farmer living seven miles from Rye; Harry C., who is repre- sented elsewhere in this work; Hattie C., wife of John Thomas, a merchant of Rye; Mrs. George Haynes; and Helen C., wife of Clayton Colvin, a railroad man living at Colorado Springs. Like

WILLIAM B. WADSWORTH.

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her husband, Mrs. Austin is also a pioneer of this state, and both crossed the plains with ox-teams before any railroads were built through this sec- tion, and during their early residence here they experienced all of the hardships and privations incident to life on the frontier. Denver at that time was a mere hamlet, containing only a few small houses, and almost the entire state was in its primitive condition, inhabited principally by Indians.

In early life Mr. Austin was a supporter of the Democratic party, but for the past few years has been identified with the Populists, and takes an active interest in political affairs, though never an aspirant for official honors. He affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Rye for some years, until the lodge was moved to Pueblo. He is quite a student and a well-read man and is very pleasant in manner.

ILLIAM B. WADSWORTH may justly be called the "father" of Silver Cliff, Cus- ter County. In the fall of 1878 he came to the present site of the village and here he built a cabin, the first house in the place. Others com- ing, a school district was organized and he served as the first treasurer, also furnished the building in which school was kept and church services held. Any denomination was given the privilege of holding meetings in the building, and the Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Methodists availed themselves of his kindness until each had a church home of its own. He organized and for three years was superintendent of the Union Sun- day-school.

Born in Henniker, Merrimack County, N. H., Mr. Wadsworth began life July 8, 1832, about two hundred years after the first of the family settled in America. There were two brothers, Christopher and William, who emigrated from England in September, 1632, and settled in Dux- bury, Mass. Christopher, from whom our sub- ject descends in a direct line, was a prominent man in his town and held the office of constable, to which he was elected in January, 1634. This position was in those days the highest office in the town and gave him power to act as judge and referee in all disputed cases. He married Grace Cole, by whom he had four children. The family name has been variously spelled, but its original form was as spelled by the poet Wordsworth.

The grandfather of our subject, Samuel Wads- worth, removed from Massachusetts to New

Hampshire, and was the first of the family to lo- cate there. He was born in Grafton, Mass., in 1747, and married Margery Hutchison, by whom he had seven children. Of these, Titus Vespa- tion, our subject's father, was born in 1792 in Henniker, N. H., where he became a valuable and influential citizen. He participated in the war of 1812. His occupation was that of a far- mer, but much of his time was given to public affairs. For many years he served as selectman, and, upon the Democratic ticket, was elected to the legislature, of which he was a member for several terms. By his marriage to Susanna Ward he had eight children, namely: Betsey, who is a widow, and lives in Fresno, Cal .; Titus H., of Franklin, N. H .; George G., living in Fresno, Cal .; Susan, Mrs. McCoy, of Templeton, Mass .; Mrs. Caroline S. Haley, of West Concord, N. H .; William B .; Mary L., deceased; and Franklin C., who during the Civil war enlisted as a sharp- shooter in Berdan's regiment and was taken se- riously ill with fever caused by lying in the Chick- ahominy swamp; he was brought back home, where he died.

At the age of fourteen our subject left the pub- lic school and entered the academy of his home town. From the time he was fifteen until twenty- one he taught school each winter, and worked on a farm in the summer, attending each fall the home academy, where he attained the highest standing of any student. In this way he acquired a thorough education. Upon attaining his ma- jority he went to Fond du Lac County, Wis., where he taught during the winter and farmed in summer. There he was elected county super- intendent of schools, which position he held for three years. Eight years after he went there he returned to New Hampshire and for three years resided in Franklin. Then, going to New York City, he resided there for four years and was manager of the American District Telegraph office after that system was organized. After a visit home of a few weeks in 1878, he came to Colo- rado, and for a few months worked in the famous Bassick mine. In the fall he came to what is now Silver Cliff, and has since been interested in min- ing to a considerable extent.

From the time of Lincoln's second term Mr. Wadsworth has been associated with the Repub- lican party, and he now takes an active interest in keeping up the national silver Republican or- ganization. Without his solicitation he was chosen justice of the peace, which position he has

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filled since 1886. For some years he has also been police magistrate, and by appointment, holds the position of notary public. Upon the organi- zation of the Presbyterian Church in Silver Cliff he identified himself with it and for many years he served as an elder; he assisted in the erection of the church building and in other ways has aided the work. He is well-to-do financially, and is the owner of considerable property; including many buildings and lots in town, and also a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the vil- lage.

A DAM GEIGER, M. D., of Colorado City, is a native of Germany, born in the city of Wurtzburg, June 29, 1846, and is a son of Dr. Frank and Josephine (Kolhepp) Geiger, the former a physician now in the service of the Bava- rian army. Educated in the academy and col- lege of his native town, our subject graduated from the latter institution in 1863 as a physician and surgeon. Having made an engagement to practice his profession in the regular army of the United States, he came to America in 1865, but soon afterward, the war having closed, he re- ceived an honorable discharge. Locating for practice at Newport, Ky., while there he was offered a position with the Anheuser-Busch Com- pany, and since that time has been connected with the company.

From 1869 until 1882 Dr. Geiger resided in Bloomington, Ind. Coming further west in 1882, he settled in Pierre, S. Dak. In 1889 he went to Utah and two years later came to Colorado, set- tling in Pueblo, and in January, 1896, coming to Colorado City, where he has since remained. In 1895 he spent several months in Germany, where he renewed the associations of youth and enjoyed a delightful vacation. He has erected four build- ings in Colorado City, and is interested not only in real estate, but in everything pertaining to the advancement of the town.

Politically Dr. Geiger has generally affiliated with the Republican party and has kept himself posted concerning national problems. Frater- nally he has taken an active interest in the Im- proved Order of Red Men, of which he has been a member continuously for more than twenty-five years, and is one of the few members entitled to wear the veterans' badge. He joined Arizona Tribe No. 52, of Bloomington, as a charter mem- ber in 1871, and frequently represented his tribe in the grand council of Indians. After coming

to Colorado he deposited his card with Minequa Tribe No. 17, of Pueblo, where he still holds membership. He has labored indefatigably and has devoted much of his time to the advancement of the order in Colorado, and rendered especially valuable service while filling the office of grand sachem. Through his efforts fifteen new tribes were organized and instituted, also two councils of the degree of Pocahontas, increasing the order by twenty-two hundred and fifty, which is the largest increase in one year in the history of the state. At the session of the grand council of Col- orado in 1896, he was elected representative to the great council of the United States, and in 1898 he was re-elected to serve in the same capacity. In religion he is a member of the Catholic Church.

January 3, 1866, Dr. Geiger married Barbara Miller, of Newport, Ky. They have three chil- dren: Joseph, who is in Oregon; Rosa, wife of Anthony Michaels, of Colorado City; and George, who is associated in business with his father.

ON. JOHN A. LINDSEY, county judge of Las Animas County, vice-president and gen- eral manager of the American Savings Bank of Trinidad, came to this city in 1894 and em- barked in the real-estate and abstract business, in which he has since continued. Two years after he came here he accepted his present position in the American Savings Bank, of which James Lynch is president and Ralph Cullinan cashier. He was born in Jefferson, Pa., April 14, 1845, and is a member of a prominent family of that state. His father, John Lindsey, also a native of Jefferson, and one of the leading stockmen of that place, was an influential Democrat and for one term served as state senator, while for three years he was prothonotary (county clerk) of Greene County. He died in Jefferson in 1865, at sixty years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ann Collins, was a descendant of an old English family, and died at seventy-eight years of age.

Judge Lindsey is the youngest of four brothers, all of whom became successful attorneys-at-law. Of these, the eldest, James Lindsey, was president judge of the fourteenth judicial district of Penn- sylvania at the time of his death in 1864. The second, Capt. William C. Lindsey, was killed while leading a charge at Hagerstown, Md., during the Civil war. The third, R. H. Lindsey, is a practicing attorney at Uniontown, Pa.

The early years of our subject's life were spent

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in the parental home. He attended the Jefferson public schools and the Waynesburg College in Greene County, from which he graduated in 1867. Afterward he studied law in his native town, under the guidance of J. A. J. Buchanan, a rela- tive of the president. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar, but soon, on account of poor health, he was obliged to give up professional work. In 1871 he went to Pittsburg, where he engaged in the wholesale lumber business for twelve years.

Coming to Colorado in 1883, Mr. Lindsey set- tled on a stock ranch in Las Animas County, and for ten years engaged in raising cattle and sheep. From his ranch he removed to Trinidad in 1894 and here has since resided, giving his attention to the various interests with which he is identi- fied. Politically he casts his influence with the Democratic party, and on that ticket was a can- didate for mayor in 1897, but was defeated by twelve votes. In 1898 he was elected to the office of county judge of Las Animas County, on the Democratic ticket, for a term of three years. In fraternal connections he is identified with Moshan- non Lodge No. 391, at Philipsburg, Pa., where he served as master of the lodge, and now holds the master's jewel; by virtue of office he became a member of the state grand lodge. In 1879 he was united in marriage with Miss Emma Jones, of Philipsburg, Pa. Four children were born of this union, one of whom survives, Malcolm, who is now acting as teller of the bank.

ON. GEORGE F. PATRICK. As a rep- resentative of the professional interests of Pueblo, mention belongs to Mr. Patrick, who is engaged in the practice of law in this city, and has his office in the Opera House block. During the years of his residence here he has built up a valuable clientele, and established a reputation as an able attorney. He is in partnership with Hon. E. V. Long, who has been on the bench during the greater part of his professional life in Indiana and New Mexico.

The Patricks are of an old Virginia family. Larkin C. Patrick, who was born at Culpeper, Va., removed to Warren County, Ky., and from there to Howard County, Mo., where the remain- ing years of his life were passed. In local affairs, as a Democrat and Union man, he took an active part, and four of his sons took part in the Civil war as soldiers in the Federal army. In religion he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal

Church South, and in that faith he died when seventy-six years of age. He was a son of Luke Patrick, a planter at Culpeper.

The marriage of Larkin C. Patrick united him with Martha F. Beckett, daughter of Blanton Beckett, who migrated from Virginia to Ohio, thence to Kentucky, and later to Missouri. His father and other relatives took part in the Revo- lution and the war of 1812. Larkin C. and Mar- tha F. Patrick were the parents of six sons and one daughter, namely: John, who died in in- fancy; James, in Missouri; Charles A., who is a school teacher; Warren, who is engaged in the life insurance business; Winfield Scott, who died at seven years; George Franklin, who was born in Fayette, Howard County, Mo., April 3, 1856; and Mary E., wife of Theodore F. Chrane, a merchant and farmer at Chraneville, Chariton County, Mo.

The early years of our subject's life were passed on the home farm in Missouri. In 1880 he graduated from the Central Methodist Episco- pal College, of Fayette, Mo., and afterward took a post-graduate course of one year in the same institution. In 1882 he took a post-graduate de- gree from the State Normal School at Warrens- burg, Mo. Previous to this he had begun to read law with Judge Andrew J. Hearndon, of Fayette, and upon leaving school he turned his entire at- tention to law study, and was admitted to the bar in the latter part of 1882. After teaching school for a short time, in the spring of 1883 he came to Colorado and opened an office in Lead- ville, thence soon went to Trinidad, but early in 1884 he moved to Sedalia, Mo., and in the fall of the same year went to Silver City, N. M., where he practiced law and also became largely inter- ested in the cattle business.

In the fall of 1887 Mr. Patrick went to Wash- ington, D. C., and entered the National Uni- versity of Law, where he was given the degrees of LL. B. and LL. M., and at the same time received two diplomas, representing the highest honors in two classes. Justice Miller, of the United States supreme court, who made the pre- sentation of prizes, took advantage of the occa- sion to compliment New Mexico's representative, and called attention to the fact that never before in the history of the institution had the two highest awards been given to the same person. While in Washington he was admitted to the su- preme court of the District of Columbia and the supreme court of the United States. Under ap-

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pointment by Governor Prince, of New Mexico, he served as a commissioner from the territory to urge upon congress the absolute necessity of the immediate settlement of questions pertaining to land grants and titles in the territory; also to urge the passage of a bill giving the territory im- mediate titles to sections 16 and 36 in each town- ship as school lands; also two townships for uni- versity purposes, and thirty thousand acres for the benefit of the agricultural college.

Since the fall of 1890 Mr. Patrick has engaged in the practice of law in Pueblo. Politically he is a stanch Democrat and interested in party mat- ters. Fraternally he is a member of the Wood- men of the World, and has attained the degree of Knight Templar in the Masonic order. His marriage, which took place December 6, 1883, united him with Mrs. Mary E. Mooney, a widow with one child, Dennis J. She is a daughter of George McAfee, a farmer, first in Kentucky, and later in Missouri, One of her brothers, William G. McAfee, has served as sheriff of Grant Coun- ty, N. M .; an uncle, John J., a noted attorney of Louisville, Ky., is the author of a number of works, among them the "Kentucky Corn Crack- er," and his wife is also an author of note and a successful translator of German works into Eng- lish. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Patrick, but four died in childhood, the surviv- ors being Philip Bryan and Julius Gunter.

ILLIAM T. SMITH has owned and oc- cupied his present ranch near Rye for thirty years, and his property has all been acquired by his own thrift and industry, for he started out in life for himself in limited circum- stances. His tastes have always inclined him to farm pursuits and stock-raising.

Mr. Smith was born in North Carolina, March 24, 1840, but was reared in Mississippi and educated in the schools of the latter state. At the age of twenty he commenced the battle of life for himself, and engaged in farming in Mis- sissippi until 1862, when he removed to Nebraska. A year later, however, he crossed the plains with ox-team to Colorado and located in Denver. In 1866 he went to Boulder Creek and later to the Black Hills, where he worked at whatever he could find to do. He came to Pueblo County in 1869 and is therefore one of its oldest settlers. He located upon his present ranch near Rye, where he battled bravely with the elements of a new soil, and looking upon his pos-

sessions to-day it is hardly necessary to state that he has made good use of his time. The farm house and other buildings are substantial and commodious, - and with the aid of modern machinery and the most approved methods, the land yields the richest crops of this section. The place is stocked with good grades of horses and cattle, and he also owns and operates a dairy, the butter from which brings the highest market price.

Iu 1870 Mr. Smith married Miss Carrie E. Barker, a daughter of Prof. A. M. Barker, of Vermont. They have six children, namely: Albert, Frank, M. Robert, Lizzie, Ella and Cora. Mr. Smith has assisted in building the churches and school houses in the locality, and at the polls he votes for the man whom he believes best qualified to fill the office. He is independent in politics, though rather favors the Democracy.

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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 83

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