Portrait and biographical record of the state of Colorado, containing portraits and biographies of many well known citizens of the past and present, Part 95

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 95

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ENRY T. WILLIAMS, who resides on the Lock ranch, near Fountain, El Paso Coun- ty, and has one thousand acres under lease there, was born near Springfield, Il1., December 7, 1862, a son of William and Esther (Mortlock) Williams. His father, who was a native of Eng- land, born near the village of Berry, Suffolk County, April 14, 1826, grew to manhood in his native land. When only six years of age he began to learn how to take care of cattle. Later he made a study of diseases of stock, and especi- ally of the sheep. Through his work as shep- herd, in which capacity he was employed for twenty years, he became proficient in his knowl- edge of that animal and an expert in breeding and raising them.

On coming to America, William Williams set- tled in McHenry County, Ill., and there secured employment with J. L. Overton. Later he worked for a Mr. Hatch. In Woodstock, Ill., he mar- ried Miss Mortlock, with whom he had been ac- quainted in England, and to whom he was en- gaged before coming to the United States, having sent for her to join him after he had been here for some time. He settled with his wife upon a

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was only one year old, since which time nothing has been heard of him. The father of this family was baptized in the Church of England, as was also his wife. Politically he was a member of the Republican party and kept posted concern- ing national questions, but was not an active participant in public affairs.

When the family came to Colorado our sub- ject was a boy of nine years. He was reared on a farm and received a fair education. When a mere child he began to herd sheep, and was en- gaged in that business for four years, after which he herded cattle until he was eighteen. After- ward he engaged in mining in Colorado for one year and in New Mexico for two years, returning to Colorado, where he resumed mining. Septem- ber 3, 1890, he married Miss Tena Lock, of El Paso County, daughter of Mathias and Barbara Lock, of whom mention is made upon another page. They have two children, Carl and Esther, both of whom were born on the Lock ranch. In politics our subject is a firm Republican. Fra- ternally he is a charter member of Fountain Camp No. 231, of which he has been manager, advisor, lieutenant, and is now counsel com- mander.

A. CLINGER, M. D., came to Colorado in 1887 and opened an office at Springfield, Baca County, from which place in 1891 he came to Fountain, El Paso County, his present home. His practice is not limited to this village, but extends through the surrounding country, where he is known by the people as a reliable and skillful practitioner. He was born in Hock- ing County, Ohio, March 15, 1855, a son of John and Mary (Prough) Clinger, natives of Ohio, and of German ancestry. During his boyhood years he lived on the home farm and attended the district schools. Afterward he was a student in the high school at Logan, the county-seat of Hocking, from which he graduated at seventeen years. Later he taught in the country schools in Hocking and Fairfield Counties, and after four years was made principal of a village school. He went to Mercer County and taught in the Celina school. While there he began to study medicine at twenty-three years of age. In 1879 he en- tered the Columbus Medical College at Colum- .bus, Ohio, from which he was graduated three years later.

Removing west to Kansas, Dr. Clinger began in practice at Cedar Junction, Johnson County.

About the same time, April II, 1882, he was married in Columbus, Ohio, to Miss Kate M. Shride, of Lithopolis, Fairfield County, Ohio, where she was born and educated. After his marriage he engaged in practice at Cedar Junc- tion for two years, and in addition to a large pri- vate practice, was also appointed local surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. In 1884 he moved to Wellington, Kan., where he invested in real estate, but the investment proved very unprofitable and caused a heavy loss. However, he built up a large prac- tice there, and was successful professionally. Coming to Colorado in 1887, he located at Springfield and is now at Fountain, where he has a comfortable home and a good practice. He has an only daughter, Mabel, who was born at Ce- dar Junction, Kan.

In politics a Republican, Dr. Clinger has rep- resented his party as a delegate in various con- ventions. While in Baca County he served as county coroner, being chosen first to fill an un- expired term under Governor Cooper, and after- ward was elected to serve one term. While there he also officiated as a member of the board of education at Springfield. In Fountain Camp No. 231, Woodmen of the World, he has been physician. During the period of his connection with the Southern Kansas Medical Society and the Baca County Medical Society he prepared a number of papers, which he read be- fore them. As a citizen he stands high in his community. Coupled with his acknowledged ability as a professional man are qualities of manhood that endear him to his friends. He is genial and companionable, frank and honorable, a man whom it is a privilege to be associated with, whether in professional work or social in- tercourse. His mother is still living, though now eighty-three years of age; her home is in Celina, Ohio. His father, however, has been deceased for sixteen years, passing away at the age of sixty-six.

L LFRED WILLIAMS. Among the farmers of El Paso County Mr. Williams occupies a position of influence. He has been a resi- dent of this county from a very early age and knows no other home than this. Upon the farm where his boyhood days were passed he is now engaged in the various duties which fall to a farmer's lot, and is meeting with success in his chosen occupation. His land lies near the village

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of Fountain, and although small in acreage, is one of the best in this locality.

In McHenry County, Ill., February 10, 1869, the subject of this sketch was born, a son of Will- iam and Esther Williams, natives of England. His parents came to the United States in early life and were married in Illinois, where they made their home upon a farm for a number of years. On selling out their interests in McHenry County in 1872, they removed to Colorado, where for ten years the father operated rented land and then bought a small place. This he placed under irrigation and improved with an orchard of fruit trees and other valuable improvements. To his original purchase of twenty acres he added, until his farm comprised seventy acres, and here he spent his remaining days. He died in 1897 and his wife in 1875. In politics he always affiliated with the Republicans, but did not take an active part in public affairs.

The children of William and Esther Williams are eight in number. James, who is unmarried and well-to-do, is proprietor of a ranch seven miles east of Fountain; Henry, who cultivates a ranch near the old homestead, is married and has two children; Charles is living in Montana; Sarah married James Anderson, by whom she has one child; Alfred was next in order of birth; Amanda resides in Colorado Springs; Harry is unmarried and at home; and Eli was adopted by a Mr. Davidson in infancy and taken to Kansas when a year old, since which nothing has been heard of him.

HARLES D. PARKS, postmaster of La Junta and one of the leading Republicans of Otero County, was born in Boone County, Ill., June 22, 1862. The name of Parks belongs to him by adoption, his family name being Daniels. His father was a volunteer in the Union army at the opening of the Civil war and fell in the battle of Gettysburg, soon after which the widowed mother died. Their infant son was adopted and reared by a kind-hearted couple, who brought him up as their own child, and not until he attained manhood did he learn of his own parents.

During infancy our subject was taken to Beloit, Wis., by his foster-parents, and from there in 1868 accompanied them to Whiteside County, Ill. He was reared in Sterling and received his education in the Rock Falls school. April 1, 1876, he entered a printing office, where he served

as an apprentice for six months. Afterward he was employed, during vacations, in the compos- ing room of a newspaper at Rock Falls. In the fall of 1880 he secured employment with the Sterling Daily Blade, and was made foreman of the composing room. Resigning that position in 1883, Mr. Parks became night foreman of the Clinton Morning News, at Clinton, Iowa. Jan- uary 1, 1884, he went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa,. and took charge of the ad. cases of the Daily Republican.

The first work done by Mr. Parks as publisher and editor was in 1885, when he founded the Herald at Cambridge, Story County, Iowa. This he continued to publish for two and one-half years. He then removed the plant to Galt, Mo., and for some sixteen months remained in that place. On selling out there he purchased a paper at Laclede, Mo., and engaged in its pub- lication for ten months, or until he removed the plant to Unionville, Mo., where he remained until December, 1895. He then traded his paper there for property in La Junta, coming to this city on the 5th of that month, and on the Ist of the following month taking charge of the Tribune. Of this paper he continued to be the publisher until March, 1898, when he accepted the office of postmaster; however, he still owns a half-interest in this semi-weekly. The paper has been the exponent of his own views and has always adhered to Republican principles, supporting the present (Mckinley) administra- tion in its war policy, annexation, etc.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Parks is a mem- ber of La Junta Lodge No. 28, K. P. His marriage united him with Flora J. Marvin, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They are the parents of three daughters: Elsie, Marguerite and Aileen.

HARLES R. BUCKEY is the senior mem- ber of the firm of Buckey & Hart, of La Junta, and is engaged in the real-estate, abstract, title, loan and insurance business in this city. He came to Colorado from Maryland, where he was born, at Mount Pleasant, October 12, 1865. Upon the homestead where he was born occurred the birth of his father, George W., in 1814, and the place is still in the possession of the family. In addition to the farm his father also owned a large tannery, and to these industries, tanning and farming, he gave his entire active life. His death took place when he was seventy-six years of age.

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After completing common-school studies our subject entered Frederick College, where he re- mained for one year. When not in school he worked in the tannery or on the farm. At the age of eighteen he entered a large mercantile establishment in Catonsville, near Baltimore, where he remained for one year. From there, in 1887, he came to Colorado, arriving at La Junta on the 26th of March. He closed out a stock of goods, which engaged his attention until September, and afterward he took up a claim in Bent County, near Las Animas. For two years he engaged in the dairy business in partnership with his brother, George R., but at the expiration of that time sold his interest in the claim and dairy.

Upon the organization of Otero County, in 1889, Mr. Buckey opened up a set of abstract books and now has the only complete records in the county. The business grew rapidly and in 1892 he took in his present partner. In addition to this business he trades in real estate, acts as insurance agent, and is treasurer of the Otero County Building and Loan Association of La Junta, and local treasurer of the Fidelity Savings Association of Denver, Colo., also a stockholder in the canning factory, creamery and fair associa- tion.

In fraternal connections Mr. Buckey is a mem- ber of the United Moderns, Woodmen of the World, and Euclid Lodge No. 64, A. F. & A. M., of La Junta. His is not a nature that cares for public position or desires to mingle in political affairs, but he keeps intelligently posted concern- ing national problems and in depositing his ballot supports Republican candidates. May 3, 1892, he was united in marriage with Miss Etta Wash- burn, formerly of Fayette County, Ill., and an estimable lady, who stands high in social circles. She is identified with the Presbyterian Church, the services of which Mr. Buckey attends, at the same time aiding generously in its support.

LEXANDER N. SIMPSON, M. D. The stranger, upon going to Amethyst, is often taken to visit the office of Dr. Simpson, where he finds a suite of rooms that, in all ar- rangements for convenience and taste, are seldom seen outside of a metropolis. His reception room is a revelation and surprise, and its tasteful, artistic arrangement proves the doctor to be a connoisseur regarding beauty. His collection of mineralogical specimens and ores, together with

a fine collection of coins of all denominations, is arranged in a glass cabinet that occupies the cen- ter of the room, this constituting what is probably the largest and most valuable private collection in the state. Tastefully arranged around the room are some twenty superb specimens of taxi- dermy, in which the fauna of the Rocky Moun- tains, from the quail to the bear, are well repre- sented. Displayed under a glass case may be seen the doctor's equipment of surgical instru- ments, one of the most complete owned by any . individual practitioner in the state. Connected with the reception room are consultation and operating rooms, which reflect the perfectness of arrangement visible in the room first entered.

It was in 1893 that Dr. Simpson came to the then new mining camp of Creede, since which time his interests have been with the place and his efforts in its behalf. Besides the general pri- vate practice which he has built up, he acts as local surgeon for the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- road, and as physician and surgeon for the Nel- son Tunnel mine, the Bachelor, Ridge and Solo- mon mines. As mayor of the city, to which office he was elected in 1894, he proved himself a trustworthy official, whose work for the welfare of the town was most successful. In 1894 he was elected coroner and county physician, which offices he is still filling.

Born in Athens, Tenn., Dr. Simpson is a son of W. H. and Prudence (Triplett) Simpson, na- tives of Tennessee, and a nephew of James Simp- son, the well-known stockman. His father, who was a planter in Tennessee for some years, re- moved to Wise County, Tex., when our subject was one year old, and there he engaged ex- tensively in the stock business, his brand (dia- mond S) soon becoming well known among the stockmen of his section. He is now living in Arkansas. The youthful years of our subject were spent in Texas, where he assisted his father in the stock business. After completing his literary education, in 1876 he entered the Mis- souri Medical College of St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1878. For a year he practiced in Siloam Springs, Ark., after which he came to Colorado and settled in Bonanza, spending two years in practice at that camp. Thence he went to Lordsburg, N. M., having accepted the posi- tion of surgeon to the Southern Pacific road at that point. He remained there for nine years, meantime establishing a profitable private prac- tice. From that place in 1893 he came to Creede

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(Amethyst P. O.), Mineral County, Colo., and here he has since been an influential citizen. Since coming here he has been identified with the mining and real-estate interests of the town, and has assisted in the development of local re- sources. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World, for which, as well as for a number of life insurance companies, he has acted as physician. In politics he is a stalwart Republican.

ILLIAM WESTON, M. E. The man who labors to secure the development of a lo- cality, striving to bring out its latent re- sources, who is devoted to the general welfare of the people, who seeks to interest outside capital in local enterprises; who endeavors to promote the commercial and moral status of his commu- nity, such a man becomes a public benefactor, and his work brings results of greater value than either he or others can compute. Such is the character and such the record of William Weston, of Colorado Springs, whose name is inseparably connected with the development of the San Juan and Cripple Creek mining regions, and, who through personal influence and letters published in prominent newspapers, has been the means of attracting an immense amount of foreign capital and many permanent settlers to the mountain state.

Henry Weston, Esq., father of the subject of this sketch, was a magistrate in the County of Surrey, England, and for thirty years a private banker in the Borough, London. Through un- fortunate investments he afterwards lost almost his entire fortune, and thus William, his eldest son by his second wife, was only fourteen when he began to earn his own livelihood. For fifteen years he was employed in Toronto, Canada, being for a time assistant cashier of the Globe, a prom- inent daily of Toronto, and later acting as proof- reader, commercial editor and city editor of the Leader, another daily of that city. For three years he then held an appointment in the Cana- dian civil service, after which, for five years, he led the adventurous life of a hunter and trapper on the northern lakes of Canada. During the Fenian troubles he was an officer of artillery vol- unteers. For six months he served in the school of artillery established by the English govern-

ment for the instruction of volunteer officers, and holds a first-class certificate as an instructor in artillery.

An advertisement of the land department of the Kansas Pacific Railroad attracted Mr. Wes- ton's attention to the west in 1870. He came to Colorado and for a time was employed in that department, under the late John P. Devereaux, then land commissioner of the line, who ever afterward was his warm friend. Being trans- ferred to the passenger department, by various promotions he became general traveling agent of the line. While in this capacity he devised a plan of advertising the country which attracted wide attention. Millions of buffaloes then roamed over the plains. Mr. Weston had seventy-six heads stuffed and mounted by a London taxider- mist whom he employed in his department. He then mounted a head handsomely in the center of a large circular shield, while on the outside was lettering calling the attention to the advan- tages of Colorado. These were posted in promi- nent places in as many eastern cities, where they were universally admired. Another effective means of advertising was a work that he wrote, "A Guide to Kansas Pacific Railway," ten thousand copies of which were sold.

Still in the employ of the Kansas Pacific Rail- way, Mr. Weston in 1875 returned to London, England, as the company's general European agent. While there he received a letter from a Colorado friend, telling of the wonderful fly fish- ing in the Rio Grande, and the marvelous gold and silver ores in the San Juan district. This letter caused an immediate change in his plans. In October, 1876, he resigned his position and entered the Royal School of Mines in London, where for three months he took the regular lec- ture course, and for a similar period assayed gold, silver and lead ores, receiving a certificate as assayist from Dr. Percy, the noted metallurgist.

In February, 1877, Mr. Weston returned to America. After a month's travel he arrived in Del Norte, then the gateway to the San Juan district, and ninety miles from the railroad. With liis assay outfit packed on burrows he proceeded through Stony Pass, Silverton, Red Mountain to Imogene Basin in the Sneffels district, where, in partnership with George Barber, an Englishman, he staked six claims. In order to provide the necessities of life for the winter, he sold his mule and saddle and bridle. For four years he and his partner lived in their cabin, eleven thousand

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and two hundred feet above sea level, and did the same paper "Silver San Juan," an article their own cooking, mining, blacksmithing, ore bearing upon duck shooting and fly fishing. testing and assaying. Meanwhile he wrote reg- These letters brought hundreds of British sports- men to Colorado. ularly for the Engineering and Mining Journal of New York, and for years was its special cor- respondent in the west. In order to get his let- ters to the postoffice at Ouray during the long winter months he made his way on snow shoes over deep drifts that hid from sight the mountain trail, and in the midst of heavy snow storms that rendered travel dangerous.

Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin, in February, 1881, appointed Mr. Weston state commissioner of mines. But he did not take the office, as there was no salary connected with it, and he was at that time manager of three mining companies. During the same year a New York company purchased Mr. Weston's group of claims, paying him $50,000. With this amount as his capital he turned his attention to the development of Ouray. He was the largest subscriber to the building of the Beaumont Hotel, and with two others put in an electric light plant to light the town. Through his sale, in London, of the Gus- ton mine, which brought its owners splendid returns, he was instrumental in bringing an im- mense amount of British capital into the Red Mountain district. In 1882 he wrote a pamphlet concerning the San Juan mines, which was ex- tensively copied and quoted, and did much to advance the interests of this mining region.

At St. Mark's Church, St. Helier's, Island of Jersey, England, Mr. Weston was, in April, 1883, united in marriage with Emily Eliza Stir- ling, youngest daughter of Thomas Stirling Begbie, Esq., shipbuilder and ship owner, of London. Coming to Colorado with his wife, Mr. Weston resided in Ouray until 1888, when he removed to Denver in order that he might be more centrally located for his work as a mining engineer. From Denver, in 1894, he came to Colorado Springs, where he now resides. Not- withstanding the multiplicity of business duties, he has found time to gratify his tastes as a sportsman, and is a good shot, a fine horseman and expert fly fisherman. Commencing April 10, 1875, he wrote a long series of articles in the English Field, over the nom de plume, "Will of the West," his subject being "Field Sports of Kansas and Colorado." The articles treated of grouse and quail shooting, buffalo hunting, antelope hunting on horseback with greyhounds, coursing, etc. In December, 1877, he wrote for

In everything except birth Mr. Weston is an American. In manner, disposition, characteris- tics and interests he is a typical westerner, fond of outdoor life, companionable with people of every class, rich or poor, genial in disposition, and with the open-hearted hospitality that renders frontier life a delightful memory with all who have experienced it. In fact he is a typical fron- tiersman.

In 1894 Mr. Weston came to Colorado Springs, establishing his headquarters in this city. For a year he was ore-buyer at Cripple Creek for D. H. Moffat's cyanide mill at Florence, known as the Metallic Extraction Company, and now treating four hundred tons a day. Since then he has been busily engaged as consulting engineer and mak- ing reports for capitalists, both in the United States and in London, where he is the best known engineer practicing in the United States. He confines his work chiefly to Cripple Creek, where he has had five years' experience, and is said by the Colorado press to have made no mistakes and more successes than any other engineer in that phenomenal camp. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers of New York, the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in London, the Colorado Scientific Society in Den- ver, the Constitutional Club on Northumberland avenue in London, and the El Paso Club in Colorado Springs.

On the occasion of the visit of the American Bankers' Association to Victor, Colo., August 26, 1898, the members were presented by Mr. Wes- ton with a neatly-bound pamphlet, describing the Cripple Creek gold district, and explaining how it was formed (in plain English, as the author said, in order that it might be understood by those unfamiliar with technical and scientific expressions). In this pamphlet the statement is made (and it will be found elsewhere in this work) that the production from the mines in 1897 was more than twelve millions of dollars, and it was anticipated that in 1898 the output would reach fifteen millions, while the total production to date had been forty millions.

From the Colorado Springs Gazette, January 29, 1899, we quote the following:

THINKS WELL OF BULL HILL.

Ever since Mr. Weston paid attention to the Cripple

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Creek district his prophesies concerning this and that property have proved remarkably accurate. In 1895 he reported on the Legal Tender group for the Denver own- ers, and though there was not a pound of ore in sight, he told Mr. Moffat in so many words that in six months the Golden Cycle Company would have one of the greatest bonanzas in Cripple Creek. This has since been amply fulfilled, as the company has already paid $150,000 in dividends. It was in this year, also, he took charge of the Mary Mckinney properties and the leases on it, and in one year made a big mine out of it.

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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 95

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