USA > Colorado > Sketches of Colorado: being an analytical summary and biographical history of the State of Colorado as portrayed in the lives of the pioneers, the founders, the builders, the statesmen, and the prominent and progressive citizens Vol. 1 > Part 21
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Mr. Waterman achieved success in his profession from the first. He is now recog-
nized as one of the leaders of the Colorado bar. For a number of years he was associ- ated with the firm of Wolcott & Vaile, the senior member being Senator Edward O. Wolcott. Several years before Senator Wol- cott's death the firm was reorganized and he was taken into partnership, the firm being known as Wolcott, Vaile & Waterman.
In 1907 Mr. Waterman withdrew from the firm and has since that time maintained a large suite of offices in the Equitable Build- ing. His practice has been mostly in cor- poration law and he is counsel for several important corporations operating in this state.
During the session of the Eighteenth Gen- eral Assembly, which ended in a deadlock over the election of a United States Senator. he received a large complimentary vote from the members of his party in the legislature.
Mr. Waterman has lived at Waitsfield and Burlington, Vermont; Groton, Connecti- cut, and Fort Dodge, Iowa. He is a mem- ber of the Denver Club, the Denver Country Club and the Denver University Club.
He was married June 18, 1890, to Miss Anna R. Cook of Burlington, Vermont.
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JUNIUS FLAGG BROWN.
B ROWN, JUNIUS FLAGG, merchant, born September 3, 1827, in Conneaut, Ashta- bula county, Ohio, died in Denver, Colorado, August 9, 1908, was the son of Reuben and Betsy Horton (Hill) Brown. His American progenitor in the paternal line was Henry Brown, who emigrated from England and settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts, abont 1639. Moses Brown, his descendant in the
Starksboro, Vermont, died at the age of 87, in Denver, in 1889. Her brother, General Charles W. Hill, adjutant-general of Ohio during the administration of Governor Todd, was active in raising and putting into the field the quota of that state in the civil war.
In the maternal line, Mr. Brown is de- scended from General Robert Sedgwick, born in England, in 1600, and settled in Charles-
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JUNIUS FLAGG BROWN
fifth generation, born in East Kingston, New Hampshire, in 1750, and a soldier with the colonists in the Revolution, married Mary Hobbs. of Poplin, New Hampshire, and later moved to Strafford, Orange county, Vermont. Their son, Reuben, born in Strafford, in 1797, early in life located in Conneant, Ohio, where he engaged in farming. His wife, a daughter of John and Laura (Bushnell) Hill, born in
town, Massachusetts, June 3, 1636. His an- cestors, at an early period in English history, resided in the mountains that bordered on the counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Westmoreland, and suffered during the War of Roses, in the struggles between the houses of York and Lancashire.
Mr. Junius F. Brown was a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution
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through the lineage of his ancestor, Moses Brown.
Reuben and Betsy Horton (Hill) Brown had a family of five children: Junius F .; Mrs. Adelia Dayfoot, who died in Canada; Mrs. Hannah Gillett; John Sidney; and Charles H., who died in Denver. Junius F. Brown spent his childhood and youth on his father's farm in his native township, obtain- ing his education in the common schools and at the academy. In 1850, he began clerking for a mercantile firm in his native town; removed two years later to Toledo, Ohio, clerking a year in a dry-goods house; was then engaged about a year by the Lake Shore then employed about a year by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad ; then commission merchants, with branch houses both east and west. Removing to Atchi- son, Kansas, in 1857, he engaged in the man- ufacture of lumber for the settlers, his saw- mills being on the Missouri side of the river. Owing to the civil war, he disposed of his business in Missouri and, his teams being idle, sent a train of merchandise to Denver, with his brother, J. Sidney, in charge. In the meantime he continued in charge of his affairs at Atchison, then being engaged in freighting, until 1865, when he became a member of the firm of Drury & Brown, wholesale grocers, at Atchison. Closing out his interests there, Mr. Brown came to Den- ver in 1870, and entered into the wholesale grocer business with his brother, J. Sidney Brown, under the firm name of J. S. Brown & Brother, which became one of the largest and most prosperous establishments in the west. Their first location was on Blake, near Fifteenth street, Denver, removing from that place to Wazee and Eighteenth in 1876. The firm was incorporated in 1893 as the J. S. Brown & Brother Mercantile Company, with J. S. Brown, president ; J. F. Brown, vice-president; H. R. Brown, secretary ; F. S. Brown, treasurer, and F. A. Hall, general manager. The firm erected the first roller flouring mill and elevator in Colorado, on the site of the Crescent Mill; was also interested in the organization of the Bank of San Juan, Del Norte, Colorado ; also in founding the banks at Alamosa and Durango; and took an active part in the organization of the Denver Tramway Com- pany. In 1882, they engaged in the stock business, known as the Brown-Iliff Cattle Company, with a large ranch at Snyder, Colorado, their herds ranging between the South Platte and Wyoming. J. F. Brown was the president of the company. For fifteen years prior to 1893, Mr. Brown was
vice-president of the City National Bank of Denver. He was largely interested in the construction of the South Park Railroad; was one of the original proprietors of the Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railroad; was an incorporator of the Denver Tramway Company ; for many years was president of the Riverside Cemetery Association; made large investments in many enterprises, and was recognized as one of the prominent up- builders of Colorado and the west.
He and his brother, J. Sidney Brown, were in business together during a poriod of forty years, and an example of more har- monious partnership, never existed. In 1900, Mr. J. F. Brown withdrew from the firm and organized the J. F. Brown Investment Com- pany, associating with him his son, H. K. Brown, and his son-in-law, F. S. Titsworth (now of the firm of Pershing & Titsworth, attorneys). He built his art gallery in 1903, to which the public was always welcome. The last ten years of his life were occupied in collecting pictures, and his gallery was one of the choicest in the west. After a long and successful business career, art be- came his recreation and passion. At first, making no pretentions as a collector of paint- ings, yet as the idea grew upon him, he be- came an expert in this line of art, although he made no claims as such. He loved his pictures. They appealed to his aesthetic nature, which was truly in touch with the true, the beautiful and the good. He was ever the friend of the artist, and was always pleased to assist in the loan exhibitions. He was also fond of a good horse, and his was a familiar figure after business hours, driving on the streets of Denver. He was the organ- izer of the Gentleman's Driving Club, where the Country Club now stands.
Mr. Brown married first, at Conneaut, Ohio, in 1859, Miss Jane B. (born in Can- ada), daughter of John B. Kilborn of that town. She died in 1877, leaving three child- ren, Helen (Mrs. James W. Douglas), Jane M. (Mrs. F. S. Titsworth), and Harry K. Brown, class of 1892, Yale, and now presi- dent of the J. F. Brown Investment Com- pany.
He married second, on November 28, 1878, at Denver, Mary L., daughter of Marcus B. Brundage, the latter a native of Poughkeep- sie, New York, who removed to Colorado with his family and died in California in 1883. Mr. Brundage married Harriet, daugh- ter of Theodore Hudson Parmelee, a descend- ant of a patriot of the Revolution, and a fam- ily that came from England in 1639.
Of this second marriage was born one child, June Louise Brown.
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WHITNEY NEWTON
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WHITNEY NEWTON.
NEWTON, WHITNEY, lumber and ce- ment manufacturer, with large commer- cial interests, was born at Monroe, Wiscon- sin, April 5, 1858, and is the son of Ezra A. and Ruth A. (Wilbur) Newton. His ear- liest American ancestor was Richard Newton, who came from England in 1638, and settled at Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Mr. Newton's father was born March 23, 1817, and died June 24th, 1878. In life he was a well known and most successful lumberman, and it may be presumed that the son and subject of this sketch inherited his proclivities in that direction.
His mother is still alive and is a resident of Denver. She is eighty-seven years of age, spends her winters in California and is still in proud possession of all her faculties.
Mr. Newton came with his father to Den- ver in 1871, and received his preliminary education in the public schools. He was the first public school pupil to leave Denver for college, and is entitled to the honor of being considered the first graduate of the Denver High School.
From 1875 to 1879, Mr. Newton attended Cornell University, from which institution he was graduated in the latter year, having conferred upon him his A. B. degree.
Mr. Newton first engaged in business in Denver, and was employed in the City
National Bank. He later organized and be- came the cashier of The Bank of Brecken- ridge.
In 1880, he disposed of his banking in- terests and in 1881, engaged in the lumber trade with his brother at Pueblo, and the business there still continues under the man- agement of Wilbur Newton, the son of the subject of this sketch, making the fifth gen- eration to be engaged in the lumber business.
Mr. Newton was honored by his election as State Treasurer of Colorado, 1903-1904, and served with credit and distinction to himself, party and the state.
He is a member of the Denver Club, the Denver Country Club, the Motor Club and Overland Park. He is also an active member of the Sons of the Revolution, of the Sons of Colorado; is also a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a member of the Alpha Delta Phi College Society.
At the present time, Mr. Newton is Vice- President of the Colorado Portland Cement Company; of the Cement Securities Com- pany; of the Pagosa Lumber Company and of the Newton Lumber Company.
Mr. Newton was married in Ithaca, N. Y. in 1881, to Mary Rose Quigg, daughter of James Quigg of that place. They have five children: Wilbur, James, Whitney, Jr., Rob- ert and George.
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MEYER GUGGENHEIM.
G UGGENHEIM, MEYER, merchant and mining and smelting, born February 1, 1828, in Langnau, Switzerland, died at Palm Beach, Florida, of pneumonia, March 16, 1905, was the son of Simon Guggenheim.
ing salesman of stove polish and glue. In this line of work, he began making a little money, and also developing resourceful op- portunities. By nature he was very inquisi- tive. He was always a patient and earnest
MEYER GUGGENHEIM
When nineteen years of age, he came to this country, in 1847, with his father and four sisters. From his early years in the old country, his struggle in life and for edu- cation had been against great odds and dif- fieulties. His early career in America was also one of hardship. His father settled in Philadelphia, and soon after, his son, Meyer, the subject of this sketch, became a wander-
seeker for knowledge, both for its own sake, as well as its commercial value. His inquisi- tiveness developed acquisitiveness, which led to his great fortune.
While engaged in selling stove polish, he became interested as to what its ingredients might be. Taking a sample of this polish to a friend who was also a chemist, he requested the latter to analyze it for him. Having
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learned the principles upon which it was made, he began to manufacture the product for himself, greatly increasing his profits. He also made a similar investigation as to glue, with a like result.
From the itinerant vender, he became the merchant, and made a fortune in the importa- tion and sale of Swiss embroideries. In the meantime, a large family was being reared by him, and the elder sons engaged in busi- ness with him. The firm had been known as Guggenheim & Pulaski (H. H.). Now, that he had taken the older sons in with him, he sent Daniel, next to the elder to Switzer- land, to investigate and learn the details of the business. The partnership with Pulaski was dissolved in 1881, and the firm became known as M. Guggenheim's Sons, four of the sons being connected therewith and removing to New York. Daniel Guggenheim, during his stay in Switzerland, rapidly pushed and extended their operations in that country, which, with the increased trade in the United States, caused the firm to be recognized as the largest importers of Swiss embroideries in America. The sons became the same tire- less and indefatigible workers as their father had been before them. They were prosper- ous in business, but their commercial suc- cess was not easily won. Tact, skill, fore- sight, backed by energy and pluck, were the ingredients of their success.
Incidentally, Mr. Guggenheim was drawn into the mining and smelting business. A friend having obtained an option on a mine in Colorado, requested Mr. Guggenheim to advance him money with which to complete the deal. Mr. Guggenheim refused to do this, but consented to go in with him as a partner, which proposition was accepted by the latter. The mine had been flooded, and although containing valuable ores, could not at that time be worked at a profit. Mr. Guggenheim came west to investigate for himself. This was characteristic of the father, and is now true of the sons. After looking over the condition of the mine, Mr. Guggenheim came to the conclusion that it could be made to pay, and make it pay he did.
This mine and other investments in this industry, led him into the smelting and refining business. In the meantime, the younger sons had become associated in these enterprises. They are seven in number, and that today is the meaning of "M. Guggen- heim's Sons."
As a mining man, Mr. Guggenheim ob- served that the cost paid to the smelters for the treatment of the ores from the mine was heavy, and came to the conclusion that if there was money in it for others, there was also for himself. After investigating this phase of the question, he invested $80,000 in stock in a smelting company at Denver. He sent one of his sons to this smelter, to learn the business, and the practical phases of the industry.
Branching out into the mining and smelting business, the Guggenheims closed out their affairs as merchants and importers. In 1888, there was erected in Pueblo for them a large smelter, at a cost of about $1,250,000. Their operations then began to extend over the United States and into Mex- ico and South America. They erected the first complete silver-lead smelter in Mon- terey, the plant having a capacity of 30,000 tons a month. Larger works were con-
structed at Aguas Calientes, and a refining plant was erected at Perth Amboy, New Jer- sey. They now conducted vast enterprises in the United States, old Mexico, and Chile, South America, and were known as the most prominent men in this industry, and when the American Smelting and Refining Com- pany was organized, refused to join it. But in January, 1901, they became a part of the latter corporation, obtaining a controlling interest in the company.
The Guggenheims were also largely inter- ested in mines, and organized the Guggen- heim Exploration Company to continue this line of work, in which they are now oper- ating in many parts of the world. They also have large investments in railroads, steamship lines, coal mines, and other great enterprises.
Mr. Guggenheim married, September 5, 1853, Miss Barbara Meyers, and to them were born eight sons and three daughters, and on her death, she left surviving seven sons and two daughters. She was a mother devoted to her husband and children, to whom she is a sacred memory. Mrs. Guggen- heim was interested in many charities, which she aided liberally with donations. It is characteristic of the sons to continue finan- cial assistance to those organizations in which she was specially interested, as a me- morial to her. These seven sons, now world- wide as financiers, are : Isaac, Daniel, Murry, Solomon R., Benjamin, Simon (q. v., United States Senator from Colorado), and William.
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JOHN DAVID BEST
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JOHN DAVID BEST.
B EST, JOHN DAVID, pioneer, Denver commission man and former shipmaster, was born at New Minas, Nova Scotia, Febru- ary 18, 1836. His father was William Best, a cabinet maker. His mother was Ann Best, daughter of David Whitman. His paternal grandfather came from England in 1778 and settled at New Minas. On his mother's side, Captain Best traces his ancestry back to John Whitman, who came to this country in 1636 and settled at Weymouth, Massachu- setts, sixteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
When a young boy, the Best family moved back to the states, settling in Bath, Maine. In this town, which was the home of the American shipbuilding industry when our flag led in the commerce of the world, young Best received his early schooling. From the windows of the old schoolhouse the tall masts of the shipping, reflected in the blue waters of the bay, framed a picture in the youth's imagination that was compelling in its summons. The sea called him and, like most of the boys of Bath, he waited impa- tiently for the time when he should sail the ocean wide.
At the age of fifteen, young Best was stricken with a fever which reduced him phy- sically to such a degree that it was believed he would fill an early grave. But he dis- agreed with the doctors. After the illness had run its course young Best announced his intention of going to sea, and, overcoming parental opposition, he shipped before the mast.
In his sea-going voyages, Captain Best was shipwrecked three times, but escaped on each occasion. In 1854, at the end of a voyage that found him in New Orleans, he, in company with two friends, made his way up the Mississippi, their plan being to secure berth in the shipping of the Great Lakes. After many discouragements, Captain Best was given a ship and for a number of years he sailed out of Chicago in the grain trade.
In 1860 Captain Best came ashore and
went into the ship chandlery business in Chi- cago with J. W. Crawford, an old boyhood friend, as partner. Crawford soon retired and the firm became Best & Dickinson. For more than ten years they did a thriving busi- ness, but in the Chicago fire of 1871, they were practically wiped out, the only thing re- maining being their credit, which was based on a sound reputation for square dealing. To add to the disaster that overtook them, the insurance companies in which their poli- cies were written, went under and their loss was almost complete.
The excessive toil and anxiety occasioned by the financial reverses of 1871, brought on a recurrence of Captain Best's ailment and the following year he set out for Colorado to secure relief from asthma. The exhilarating climate of the Rocky Mountain region re- stored him to perfect health almost imme- diately and he was able to apply the tireless industry that was characteristic of him to the tasks at hand. Soon he had established a leading wholesale grocery business, to which he added a flour and grain department.
Following the Leadville boom, when the South Park railroad was started toward the new camp, the John D. Best firm did most of the forwarding. In the discharge of this contract, Captain Best led a life of strenuous activity, but the rewards were large.
For thirty-four years Captain Best con- tinued at the head of his Denver business, but in 1906, at the age of seventy, feeling that he had performed a man's share of hard labor, he retired, turning the active manage- ment of the business, which still bears his name, over to his son, Charles Fred Best.
Captain Best was married at Buffalo, New York, in 1860, to the sweetheart of his boyhood days, Martha C. Hooper, of Bath. They had two sons and three daughters: Charles Fred Best, John W. Best, Mrs. George G. Speer, Mrs. J. M. Terry and Lucy Etta Best, who died shortly after the family arrived in Denver. John W. Best, who was born in Denver, died at the age of twenty- five.
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HENRY CORDES BROWN
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HENRY CORDES BROWN.
BROWN, HENRY CORDES, capitalist, born near St. Clairsville, Belmont county, Ohio, Nov. 18, 1820, died March 6, 1906, in San Diego, California, was the son of Samuel and Polly (Newkirk) Brown, and was descend- ed from a partiotic and colonial New England family. His American ancestor was Nicholas, son of Edward and Jane (Lide) Brown of Inkberrow, (Iukbarrow), eight miles from Droitwich, Worcestershire, England. Nich- olas was made a freeman at Lynn, Sep. 7, 1638, and a representative to the General Court in 1641, and in 1644, removed to Read- ing, Massachusetts, where he died Aug. 5, 1673. He was known as a public spirited man in the affairs of the town and colony. His son Cornelius Brown, resident of Reading, mar- ried, in 1665, Sarah, daughter of William (of Ipswich, who died Feb. 1, 1659) and Sarah Lampson. Their son, Samuel Brown, born Sept. 18, 1675, died 1722, a native of Reading, was a gentleman of high standing, who at the time of his death was wealthy for those days. His wife Mary, who died in 1778, took charge of the estate, which she successfully managed during a widowhood of more than fifty years. Elisha, their son, born Dec. 12, 1715, died 1756, married May 17, 1744, Elizabeth, born March 8, 1720, died Sept. 9, 1818, daughter of Simon and Hannah (Potter) Davis, a de- scendant of Dolor (1600-1673) and Margery (Willard) Davis. Elisha Brown moved to Cambridge in 1744, where he married Eliza- beth Davis. To the wealth inherited from his father, he also added another fortune and died in Acton. They were the parents of four children, Hannah, Mary, Samuel, and Elisha.
Samuel, their third child, who was the father of Henry C. Brown of Denver, was born Oct. 12, 1749, probably in Cambridge, but enlisted from Acton in the American Revolution, in which he held the rank of 2nd lieutenant, Capt. Patch's Company, Col. William Prescott's regiment. He partici- pated in the engagements at Bunker Hill and Concord, and was at the siege of Boston. He was also in the Arnold expedition to Quebec, where he was wounded and taken prisoner, but paroled in Sept., 1776, and sent home. In 1800, when 51 years of age, Samuel Brown removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where he died in 1828, and was buried with military honors.
Henry C. Brown, through his grandmother Elizabeth (Davis) Brown, is also descended from old colonial stock. Her American an- cestor, Dolor Davis, born in England in 1600, died in Barnstable, 1673, married in England,
Margery, daughter of Maj. Simon Willard. Their son, Lieut. Simon Davis (1636-1673) married Mary, daughter of James Blood, and their son, Dr. Simon Davis, of Concord, born 1660, married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Eleanor (Hopkinson) Woodhouse. Their son, Simon Davis, of Concord, born Sept. 7, 1692, married, June 1, 1719, Hannah Pot- ter (1690-1782), and they were the parents of Elizabeth (Davis) Brown. Through this line he is a descendant of Luke Potter (died 1697), who married in 1644, Mary, daughter of Walter Edmonds. Judah Potter, their son, and father of Hannah (Potter) Davis, married Grace, daughter of Captain Joshua and Hannah, born 1636, (Mason) Brooks. He was the son of Captain Thomas Brooks, and she the daughter of Captain Hugh and Esther Mason. In these ancestral lines, Henry Woodhouse, who died in Concord in 1700, was a representative to the General Court, in 1635, and 1690-92, and an officer in Phips expedition of 1690. Captain Hugh Mason, who died in Watertown, 1678, was among its first settlers, and was made a free- man in 1635; was a representative to the General Court ten terms; selectman twenty- five years; lieutenant, 1649; captain, 1652; commissioner, whose duty was to try small cases before days of a justice of the peace. Captain Mason at the age of 28 and his wife Esther, 22, came to Boston in the "Francis," from Ipswich county, Suffolk, England, April 1634. When in advanced years, he com- manded his company in King Philip's War.
Samuel, the father of Henry C. Brown, married first, a daughter of Maj. Daniel Fletcher, a gallant officer in the American Revolution; second, Polly Newkirk, and of this last marriage, Henry C. was born, his mother dying when he was two years of age, and at seven he was left an orphan on his father's death.
Henry C. Brown was educated in the com- mon schools, and at the Franklin Brooks Academy, St. Clairsville, remaining on a farm where he was apprenticed to a family named Carroll until 16. Later, learning the carpenters trade, as well as the business of an architect, he became an assistant to his brother, Isaac Brown, architect and builder, St. Louis, until 1852. He then crossed over- land to California, driving an ox team, walk- ing nearly all the way, making the journey in 110 days, to Hangtown, now Placerville, California. After a brief stop, he went to San Francisco, and a few weeks later to Port- land, Ore. A month later going up the Co- lumbia river, then crossing by land to the
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