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 24
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Judge Maxwell married, July 1, 1880, Miss Emma C., daughter of the Rev. L. H. Long, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Lebanon, Ohio. Mrs. Maxwell is descended from Colonial ancestry, and is an active mem- ber of the Daughters of the American Revo- lution.
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HON. WILLIAM HENRY JAMES
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HON. WILLIAM HENRY JAMES.
TAMES, HON. WILLIAM HENRY, min- ing and smelterman, was born in Wales, February 15, 1838, and came to America when eight years of age. His father came to America in 1813 and settled at Brooklyn, N. Y. His mother was Fannie Farr James.
Mr. James was educated in Brooklyn and finally apprenticed to the trade of a watch- maker, which he followed until 1860, when he joined the procession of gold seekers then marching towards the Pike's Peak region. Gilpin county being the objective point of all immigrants, he found his way to the town of Nevada, situated at the very head of the series of gulches tributary to the original Gregory, at the very apex of quartz or lode mining, and in course of time became engaged in the milling of gold ores, but did not meet the success expected. Removing his mill to Empire, in Clear Creek county, he was still less fortunate there, and at length returned to Gilpin, locating in Black Hawk. Soon after, the Terrible mines, near Georgetown, came into prominence as great producers of rich silver ores. He was made superinten- dent of these properties, which he directed until their transfer to an English company, when he became manager of the Burleigh and Baltimore tunnels at Georgetown, where the first air machine drills ever brought to Colo- rado were introduced and operated. In 1873, he superintended the working of the gold placer mines at Fairplay, in Park county.
In 1875 he went to the valley of the Ar- kansas, and took charge of the Printer Boy mine. In 1876 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention from Lake county. In this convention which was en- gaged in the work of framing an organic law for the new state of Colorado, Mr. Jamesserved
on the Committee on the Executive Depart- ment, which was the first of the three com- mittees charged with the drafting of the articles on the Governmental Department, to report. He served also on the committees of Mines and Mining and Counties. For his able and diligent services to the new State in this convention, he was one of those who were deemed worthy of the honor of special mention in Hall's History of Colo- rado.
After serving in the Constitutional Con- vention, Mr. James returned to Lake County and assisted in the formation of the town of Leadville in 1878, of which the late United States Senator Tabor was chosen mayor; but upon the elevation of the town to a city of the first class in April, 1879, at the election of officers for the new city, the business men were not satisfied with the political nominees for the office of mayor, and brought forward, only two days prior to the election, the name of the Hon. W. H. James for mayor. So highly was he held by the citizens that, al- though having so short a time to make his campaign, he was elected by a large plu- rality, the first mayor of the City of Leadville.
Mr. James associated himself with former Governor Grant and Edward Eddy in the purchasing of ores, this firm being known as the greatest firm of ore buyers and dealers in the products of the mines about Leadville from 1878-79, to the date of the erection of their incomparable plant in Denver, the Omaha and Grant Smelter, of which Mr. James was general manager until the day of his death in Denver, January 5, 1893.
Mr. James married Margaret A. (Had- dock) James. They had two children: Harry C. James and Elsie J. Lemen.
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SPENCER PENROSE
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SPENCER PENROSE.
PENROSE, SPENCER, mining, son of Richard Alexander Fullerton (M. D.) and Sarah Hannah (Boies) Penrose, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 2, 1865, and is connected with historie and distinguished families of the colonial period in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Mas- sachusetts. He is descended from William Biddle, the founder of that family in this country, and an associate of William Penn. His great-grandfather, Clement Biddle Pen= rose, was one of the three commissioners for the territory ceded to the United States by France. Charles Bingham Penrose, his grand- father, who married Valeria Fullerton Bid- dle, was one of the leading lawyers of Phila- delphia, and for several years a member of the state senate of Pennsylvania, and also its presiding officer, being a member of that body at the time of his death in 1857. He was one of the editors of Penrose and Watts' "Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania," and from 1841 until 1844, was solicitor for the treasury of the United States. He was distinguished for brilliancy of intelleet and elegancy of manners. His father, Richard Alexander Penrose, born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1827,, died 1908, married Sarah Hannah Boies, was an eminent physician and surgeon. He was graduated from Dickinson College in 1846 (LL. D. 1872), and from the medical depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania in 1849, with the degree of M. D. He was con- sulting surgeon in the Philadelphia Hospital, in which he gave clinical lectures on the dis- eases of women and children. In 1863, he became a professor on the medical staff of the University of Pennsylvania, and for more than a quarter of a century was an authority on the diseases of women and children and noted for the deep learning of his leetures while a member of the faculty of that institution. He was a member of many learned societies, including the Amer- iean Gynecological Society, of which he was one of the organizers, and was also one of the founders of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Gynecian Hospital, and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. On the maternal side, he is descended from the Thomas family of Maryland, and also that of the Boies of Massachusetts, one of whom assisted in building the breastworks
on Bunker Hill, the night before that his- torie battle.
The children of Richard Alexander Ful- lerton and Sarah Hannalı (Boies) Penrose have been prominent in several spheres of life. One son, Boies Penrose, is United States Senator from Pennsylvania; another, Charles B. Penrose, is an eminent physician in Philadelphia ; another, Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, mining engineer and one of the most skilled and learned men con- nected with the United States Geological Survey, and still another, Spencer Penrose, financier, mining, and a leading operator in the west, subject of this sketch.
Mr. Penrose received his early education at home, under the care of private tutors, and was graduated from Harvard College in 1886, with the degree of A. B. He married in London, England, April 26, 1906, Mrs. Julie Villiers (Lewis) McMillan of Detroit. For a number of years, he has been inter- ested in, and has also promoted some of the largest mining and suceessful enterprises in the Rocky Mountains, and especially has he been known as one of the most prominent operators in the Cripple Creek mining dis- trict. He has also made large investments in banking, irrigation, and land companies, and stands today one of the leading finan- ciers of Colorado. Among many, he is con- nected with the following companies :
He is secretary and treasurer of the Utah Copper Company ; secretary of the United States Sugar and Land Company ; secretary of the Beaver Land and Irrigation Company ; director of the Ray Consolidated Copper Company ; Chino Copper Company; First National Bank of Colorado Springs; Colo- rado Title and Trust Company, Colorado Springs; Cripple Creek Central Railway ; Beaver, Penrose and Northern Railroad ; Grand Junction and Grand Valley Railroad, and International Trust Company of Denver.
Mr. Penrose resides in Colorado Springs. and in 1903-1904, was a member of the staff of Governor James H. Peabody, with the rank of colonel. He is a member of the fol- lowing clubs : Philadelphia, Union League, Philadelphia Country, Racquet (Philadel- phia) ; University, Union League (New York) ; Denver, Denver Country; El Paso, Cheyenne Mountain Country (Colorado Springs) ; Alta (Salt Lake City) ; and the Travelers (Paris, France).
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JAMES RENWICK McKINNIE
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JAMES RENWICK McKINNIE.
McKINNIE, JAMES RENWICK, capit- alist, mine operator and beet sugar manufacturer, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, October 8, 1846, son of Ebenezer and Ruhamah (Drummond) McKinnie. The year after his birth his father died and the family moved to Crawfordsville, Iowa. He received his education in the grammar and high schools of that place. The Civil War was in progress when he finished his course and, thongh still a boy in his 'teens, he enlisted in Company B, Ninth Iowa Infantry, serv- ing the last two years of the war.
In 1870 Mr. McKinnie came to Colorado, going first to Durango. It was about this time that the San Juan district was begin- ning to experience an awakening of its re- sources. Reports were given to the world of fabulons gold and silver values in the moun- tains of southwestern Colorado and capital- ists were coming to recognize the possibili- ties for safe investment in the prospects of the San Juan. Being among the first on the ground, Mr. MeKinnie acquired valuable properties, which he promoted with profit to himself and his shareholders.
In those early years when, as a young man, he was entrusted with the handling of large sums of money, Mr. McKinnie laid the foundations for a business reputation based on integrity and strict honor that served him well in late years, when his undertakings grew in magnitude. When the wonderful Cripple Creek district was discovered Mr. MeKinnie was one of the first to visit that section. After a thorough examination he made up his mind that the country was rich in gold values and he invested heavily him- self and advised his friends to "get in." The same good fortune that had attended his ventures in the San Juan attended him at Cripple Creek and he added materially to his fortunes.
Mr. MeKinnie was one of the first to rec-
ognize the possibilities in beet sugar manu- facturing. He and his associates built fac- tories in various parts of Colorado and in Kansas, and while increasing their own store added materially to the wealth of the dis- tricts surrounding their factories. It was only natural that from the manufacture of beet sugar he should become interested in agriculture as a science. Applying large capital that has always been at his com- mand he promoted and carried to success- ful conclusion large irrigation enterprises in the Western States. But the West has not by any means limited the scope of his activities. Even while directing the large irrigation schemes under his control he ven- tured into Florida and started the reclama- tion of thousands of rich acres in the Ever- glade swamps of the Southern peninsula. The lands thus drained are the most product- ive in Florida, and the undertaking has proved a wonderful success.
Mr. McKinnie's business activities are in- dicated in a measure by the list of offices which he fills in his various companies. He is vice-president of the Exchange National Bank of Colorado Springs, vice-president of the Western Sugar and Land Company, president of the Southwestern Sugar and Land Company, president of the Western States Securities Company, and president of the Grand Junction Town and Development Company, and an officer and director of many other companies.
Mr. MeKinnie married December 25th, 1878, Mary J. MeNeise. She died January 13th, 1900. On September 20th, 1904, he married Anna McCarty. There are seven children, Rue, Hugh, James R. Jr., Robert, Richard, Margaret and Mary.
Mr. McKinnie holds a membership in the El Paso, Pike's Peak, Town and Gown Clubs of Colorado Spring and the Denver Club.
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JOHN JAY JOSLIN
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JOHN JAY JOSLIN.
JOSLIN, JOHN JAY, merchant, born at Poultney, Vermont, May 11, 1829; is the oldest surviving son of the Hon. Joseph and Caroline Cortland (Ruggles) Joslin, and a descendent of Colonial and Revolutionary stock. The first progenitor of the family in America was Thomas Joslin, who came from England to Hingham, Massachu- setts, in 1635. One of his descendants was Lindsey Joslin, the grandfather of this sketch, who served as a Minute Man in the Revo- lutionary War and was present at the sur- render of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, October 17, 1777.
J. Jay Joslin received his early education at Poultney, a large part of his tutelage being that of practical training in the ways of com- merce and manual labor. He was a student at Troy Conference Academy from 1844 to 1847, and exhibited while a boy those superior intellectual qualities, which foreshadowed the great success that he has won as a merahent in the West, and the distinction which he has achieved as a public spirited citizen of Den- ver. Accurate in all branches of his study, independent in thought, considerate and charitable to his employes, he is one of the most honored of the business men of Denver.
In 1847, he began his mercantile career as a clerk in a store at Castleton, adjoining Poultney and continued in that capacity until 1850, when he was induced by his father to assume the management of his farm, the title to the "old homestead" to be transferred to him if he would accept it as his future home. He accepted the offer and although successful in farming, his mercantile in- stincts predominated and he returned to business life in 1852, starting a store of his own and soon built up the largest mercantile business in Poultney and that section of the state. After twelve years of success, Mr Joslin built one of the largest stores in Ver- mont, the third story containing a lecture and concert hall, this enterprise being a tribute to his cultivated mind, to his elevated idea of mercantile life and his desire for public good- the characteristics which have distinctly marked the man during his thirty-nine years of business life in Denver.
After twenty-one years of business life in Poultney, he sold out and decided to locate in the rising city of Denver. Coming here in December, 1872, he bought the New York Store, located at 15th and Larimer streets,
then the center of the city's trade. He con- tinued there with one of the most popular and prosperous dry goods stores in the city until 1879, when he removed to a commodious three-story block, on Lawrence street, the center of trade beginning to go up town, his increasing trade demanded more room, and in 1889, he occupied the new and handsome Tritch Block, corner of Sixteenth and Curtis streets.
Mr. Joslin also invested in stock growing and mining with success, but in later years has devoted all his attention to his dry goods business. He is of literary and scholarly tastes; although not a public speaker, he is a ready and interesting writer and has con- tributed many articles to the secular press on subjects of current events. He is an ardent lover of art and music and was president of the Hayden and Handel Society during its existence, 1874 to 1883, when it merged into the Choral Union, of which he was president until 1886. In politics, Mr. Joslin has always been a republican, but on account of the silver question in 1896, he cast his presidential vote for Wm. J. Bryan. Having voted for John C. Fremont for president in 1855, he still remains loyal to the republican party. He is prominent in social and lodge circles, a Master Mason, member of the Gentlemens' Driving and Riding Club, and of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is a member of the First Baptist Church, although quite liberal in his religious opinions. He was chairman of the building committee in the construction of this, one of the most beautiful churches in the western country, of which he was also the originator, and it was through his suggestion and influence that the fitting of the interior of the church departed from the usual flat floor to the amphitheatre form.
In April, 1851, Mr. Joslin married Miss Mary E. Andrus, daughter of Daniel Andrus of Poultney, Vermont. They have three children: Hattie A. (Mrs. F. P. Allen); Edna (Mrs. W. H. Milburn); and Frank A. Joslin, secretary of the Joslin Dry Goods Company, of which Mr. J. Jay Joslin is president. Mr. Joslin's father died at Poultney, December 27, 1881, and his mother at the same place in 1892. They were the parents of five chil- dren. One of the sons being Jarvis (of the firm of Joslin and Park, jewelers of Denver), who died in Denver, January, 1899.
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HARPER M. ORAHOOD
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HARPER M. ORAHOOD.
O RAHOOD, HARPER M., lawyer, former city attorney of Denver, was born at Columbus, Ohio, June 3, 1841, son of William Jackson and Ann Messenger Orahood. His grandfather was Amos Orahood of Union county, Ohio. Thomas Orahood, his great- grandfather, came to this country from Glas- gow, Scotland, in 1785, settling in Virginia.
Mr. Orahood received his early education in the public schools of Mount Vernon, Ohio, and Earlville, Illinois. After leaving school he secured employment as a clerk in a drug store at Rock Island, Illinois. He remained there two years, but in 1860 he responded to the call of the west and joined an immi- grant train bound for Colorado.
Mr. Orahood responded to the call for volunteers during the Civil War and served on the frontier with the rank of captain.
Until 1870 he engaged in mercantile pursuits at Central City and Black Hawk, but during these years he was improving his time by constant association with books and men of learning and experience. In 1870 he entered the law office of Alvin Marsh, and a year later went to the firm of Henry M. and Willard Teller. In 1873 he was ad- mitted to the Colorado bar. For some years he practiced in partnership with Senator Teller and his brother, Willard. In 1877, former Senator Edward O. Wolcott, who was then district attorney, appointed him his deputy, and in 1878 he succeeded Mr. Wolcott in the office. Three years later he resigned and moved to Denver, where he has since lived.
During the time he lived in Gilpin county, Mr. Orahood filled the office of county clerk and recorder, city attorney and postmaster of Black Hawk and city attorney of Central City.
In 1901 he was elected city attorney of Denver and served in that capacity until the city and county were consolidated under the Twentieth Amendment to the State Con- stitution.
While he has been ever devoted to his profession, the practice of which has en- grossed his time, Mr. Orahood has served the people of Denver as school director for seven years, part of which time he was presi- dent of the board. He has also been for many years a member of the Board of Cap- itol Managers, sharing with the other mem- bers the unique distinction of constructing and managing the one capitol in the country in which no taint of graft or jobbery has ever entered.
Mr. Orahood is a member of the Gilpin County and the Colorado Pioneer Associ- ations. He is Past Grand Master of the Masons and Past Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of Colorado. Mr. Orahood is a member of the Grand Army of the Re- public, and is a Past Department Com- mander. In 1895 he was colonel on the staff of Governor McIntire.
Mr. Orahood married at Black Hawk, October 1, 1863, Mary Esther, daughter of Hiram E. and Teresa Booker Hurlbut, who came to Colorado from Lynn county, Missouri, in 1860. They have five children.
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ELI MELVILLE ASHLEY
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ELI MELVILLE ASHLEY.
A SHLEY, ELI MELVILLE, was born at Portsmouth, Ohio, May 28, 1833, and died at Long Beach, California, November 12, 1909. He was the son of John C. and Mary Ann (Kirkpatrick) Ashley, and was from an old line of staunch and patriotic ancestors whose first predecessor on this continent was Captain John Ashley, a signer of the second Virginia Charter. From colo- nial times down to the present the name of Ashley has been closely associated with the religious, social, financial and patriotic de- velopment of the states; and in Denver and Colorado, his and the succeeding generation of Ashleys have been identified with their growth and prosperity.
His father and grandfather before him were both clergymen, and in fact, through all the generations of Ashleys has always run the religious strain.
Mr. Ashley was educated in the schools of Marietta, Ohio, but was compelled at an early age to seek his own sustenance and was thereafter a self-educated and self- dependent man.
He first. engaged in business in a sub- stantial way in 1853 with his brother, James M. Ashley, in the wholesale and retail drug business at Toledo, Ohio. In the business he was most successful, but about 1861 he
decided to come to Colorado, and since that time his history and success had been part and parcel of the history and success and growth of Denver and Colorado.
He was for years, and up to the time of his death, the president of the Western Chemical Company of Denver, an institution noted throughout the country for its mag- nitude, enterprise and progressiveness, and is in its own class in all the vast western country. He saw it develop from a small plant to an establishment of large propor- tions, employing hundreds of people, and in a financial way one of the bulwarks of the City of Denver. This concern is one of the largest manufacturers of sulphuric, nitric and muriatic acids, blue vitrol, etc., in the United States. It is located in South Den- ver and is one of the large, well recognized business concerns of the city.
Outside of Portsmouth and Toledo, Ohio, Mr. Ashley had always resided in Denver.
He has been president of the Manufac- turers' Exchange and was the second presi- dent of the Denver Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Ashley married at Celina, Ohio, in 1861, Miss Susan E. Riley, daughter of Captain James W. Riley.
There are two children, Frank R., and Ralph E. Ashley.
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CHANNING FRANK MEEK
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CHANNING FRANK MEEK.
MEEK, COLONEL CHANNING FRANK, president of the Colorado Yule Marble Company, was born at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, September 26, 1855, being the son of Aaron and Rhoda (Gardner) Meek. His earliest ancestor on American soil was Guy Meek, of Wales, who landed in this country in 1664, and settled in Maryland. Colonel Meek's father was a physician, born in 1814 and died in 1879. The Colonel attended the public schools at Davenport, Iowa, until he reached the age of thirteen, and late in 1875 entered the medical department of Iowa University, but did not graduate and was obliged to dis- continue his studies on account of illness.
Colonel Meek's first employment was as a messenger boy for the P. & A. Tel. Co. of Davenport, Iowa. From 1878 to 1881, he was trainmaster and chief despatcher for the Rock Island Railroad in Iowa; from 1882 to 1886, he was superintendent of the Wabash Railroad. In 1887 and 1888 he was general manager of the Denver, Texas & Fort Worth Railroad. During the years of 1889 and 1890, he was general manager of the Gulf Division of the Union Pacific Railroad and in 1890- 1893 was president of the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, and with Mr. J. C. Osgood made the consolidation of the Colorado Coal & Iron Company with the Colorado Fuel Company, which brought to life the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company.
When he completed the construction of the Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railroad, (now the Colorado and Southern), in 1887, the first-class freight rate from eastern sea- board points to Colorado was $4.40 per hun- dred pounds. Before the new line was opened for business, Colonel Meek had made a con- tract with the Southern Pacific Railroad, with which his road connected at Ft. Worth, Texas, giving his line the power to make the through rates from New York to Colorado; and the day the Denver, Texas and Ft. Worth Road was opened for handling freight, he announced a cut of the first class rate from New York to Denver to $2.20 a hundred, and an average reduction of 35% on all classes of freight.
This action precipitated a long and bitter freight rate war, the older and stronger lines joining forces to prevent the permanent adoption of these reduced rates. The re- sult was, however, that the rates put into effect by Colonel Meek were adopted by all other roads and are still in force.
With the removal of this freight rate em- bargo, Colorado began that remarkable pro- gress in commercial and industrial develop- ment, which has distinguished her among the states.
Beside his railroad and other experiences of great importance, Colonel Meek's reputa- tion, as an organizer of large corporative in- terests is well known. He organized the Shredded Wheat Company in 1895 and the American Biograph Company, also in 1895. In 1896, he purchased the street car lines in the City of Mexico and later sold them at a large profit to Wehrner, Beit & Company of London. He had already arranged for the electrification of these lines the same year.
In 1904 he purchased the great white marble deposits in Gunnison county, Colo- rado, and organized the Colorado Yule Marble Company to take over and develop them.
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