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 30
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Judge Beaman visited Gunnison, Colo- rado, and other points in the state from 1880 to 1887, when he removed, with his family, from Iowa to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and in 1888 to Denver, where he still resides. Judge Beaman is especially versed in corporation and land law, and it was owing to his ability and acumen in this line of his profession, that he was called to Colorado in 1887, by Mr. John C. Osgood, where he assisted in the organization of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. During almost a quarter of a century, he has been connected with the latter company as viee- president, director, secretary or general counsel, and with its auxiliary industrial and railroad corporations, taking an active part in the development of this vast system in all its branches. He remained with the company until January, 1910, when his con- nection with its active operations ceased. Sinee his retirement from active business he has devoted himself largely to recreative sports. In 1906, he added the visible pro- jectile for firearms to the list of inventions. Judge Beaman was one of the organizers of the American Trotting Association, and was its president in 1891 and 1892. He is a mem- ber of the Denver Club and the Colorado Electric Club.
Judge Beaman married, at Athens, Mis- rouri, December 31, 1860, Luella A. Smith, daughter of Dalzell Smith, of that place. They have four children, James L., Alice M., George C., and Arthur D. Beaman.
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HENRY WHITE WARREN
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HENRY WHITE WARREN.
WARREN, HENRY WHITE, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, sci- entist, author and missionary, was born January 4th, 1831, the son of Mather Warren and Anna Miller (Fairfield) Warren. His earliest paternal forbear in this country was William Warren of England, who came to this country in 1672 and settled at Hatfield, Mass., and who naturally endured the hard- ship, trials and tribulations of the early set- tlers. His father, Mather Warren, a farmer, mill owner, building mover, etc., was born in 1800, and died in 1868. In the early colonial days of the Warren family history, Susanna Mather, a relative of the distin- guished and renowned Cotton Mather, mar- ried into the family and since that time the name of Mather has always been in the fam- ily. Surely a name in American history to conjure by.
Ever since the early days down to the present there has been almost continually a member of the Warren family in the mili- tary or naval service of our country. This, in itself, speaks of the family's loyalty and patriotism.
The present Bishop attended Wilbraham Academy and late, in 1853, was graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. The degree of Master of Arts was later conferred on him, in 1858-the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Dickinson College in 1872, and that of Doctor of Laws in 1872, by Ohio Wesleyan. He was elected Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in May, 1880. Besides his multitudinous duties as Bishop, he has been active in science and authorship and has traveled in almost every foreign land in the interests of the church. As Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church
he has officially visited missions in South America twice, in China, Japan and Europe twice, Korea, the Philippine Islands and India, and has also visited Mexico and Porto Rico in the same capacity.
With all his arduous duties and travels he has given to the world scientific, astro- nomical, religious and travelogue books which will endure as monuments to his ver- satility and intellectual qualities. In 1874, he published "Sights and Insights"-a book of travel. In 1877 came "The Lesser Hymnal." In 1878, his "Studies of the Stars" was given to the world, and in 1879 "Recreations in Astronomy" saw the light of day. In 1892 he published "The Bible in the World's Education," and in 1898, "Among the Forces."
In 1852 he taught the natural sciences in America Seminary, New York, so that his life has been one of religion, science, travel, education and authorship, in all of which he has successfully prevailed.
In 1863 he served as a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, aud was, later, a member of the Christian Commission during the Civil War in the Army of the Potomac.
The Bishop first came to Colorado in 1879, but did not make it his permanent abode until 1883. He has lived in Worcester, Massachusetts (1855-1856), Boston and vicin- ity till 1871, in Philadelphia six years; Brooklyn, New York, three years, and At- lanta, Georgia, four years, in all of which time he has been devoted to religion, science and literature.
In 1855 Mr. Warren married Miss Dian- tha L. Kilgore, in Lowell, Massachusetts. She died in 1868. Their children are Carrie, Henry and Ellen. In 1883 he married Mrs. Elizabeth (Fraser) Iliff.
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GEORGE TRITCH
GEORGE TRITCH.
TRITCH, GEORGE, hardware merchant and pioneer, was born in Baden, Ger- many, April 23, 1829, and died in Denver, October 8, 1899. When he was a little more than one year of age, his parents emigrated with him to the United States. Arriving in New York, they started for their future home in Chillicothe, Ohio,
making the journey by lake and canal. Young Tritch here spent his boyhood, until fifteen years of age, during which time he attended the public schools, obtaining a good and practical education that fitted him for the business career that awaited him in the future. In 1844, having made up his mind to become a tinner and coppersmith, he went
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to Cineinnati, Ohio, where he served an ap- prentieeship at that work. Becoming a mas- ter of his trade, Mr. Tritch removed to Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, in 1847, where he estab- lished himself in the hardware business. He started for St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1852, making the trip down the Ohio and up the Mississippi, but concluded not to go farther than Museatine, Iowa, where he landed. Here he resumed his business as a hardware merchant, also engaging in the same busi- ness, for a time, at Tipton, that state.
In Mareh, 1860, Mr. Tritch, with his wife and three children, crossed Iowa in a wagon to Council Bluffs, and thence to Omaha, from which point he followed the erowds then en route to the Pike's Peak region. At Shinn's Ferry Island, about sixty-five miles this side of Omaha, the family was robbed during the night by the Indians, who stole an entire load of provisions from the party of immigrants with whom the Tritches were traveling, and with a seanty supply of pro- visions they resumed their way across the plains, reaching Denver May 27, 1860. Mr. Tritch had no special objective point in view, but his supply of ready eash running low, he decided to remain in Denver. He had brought with him across the plains in a spring wagon, a small stock of hardware and his tools, and with this little margin, he started on the successful career that awaited him in this new country. His first business house was a cabin near Cherry Creek, on Blake street, in which he and his family, for a time, also resided. Hardware is always a staple product and in great demand in a new and especially a mining country. From the beginning he flourished in business, later adding farming implements, the first that mining supplies he sold plows, cradles, scythes, mowers, threshing machines, horse rakes and reapers, as Colorado was then be- ginning the development of her agricultural resources. From his first and small location, he removed his business to the west side of Fifteenth street, near Wazee, where he occu- pied a one-story building. A brick building of two stories was erected by him, early in the '70s, at Fifteenth and Wazee, in which he displayed the largest and most pretentions stock of hardware yet seen in the west. But, with the years, his business increased, until in 1884, he erected the large and finely equipped hardware store on Arapahoe, near Seventeenth, and established the George Triteh Hardware Company, one of the lead- ing commereial institutions of the city and state.
Mr. Tritch also made investments in real
estate, and in other enterprises. He was a close student of business matters, and the causes of financial prosperity and depression, which alternated in cycles of eight and ten years, according to his theories, and con- ducted his affairs according to these views.
Mr. Tritch was active with the early rail- way building in Colorado. He was interested in the old Denver Pacific, Denver and South Park, and the Denver, Texas and Gulf, and was vice-president of the Denver and South Park Construction Company. His influence was also felt in banking circles, in which he was recognized as one of the leading finan- ciers of the state. In 1876, he was president of the German National Bank of Denver, and, during the same year, was elected treas- urer of the Colorado Industrial Association.
Mr. Tritch was a member of the Denver board of aldermen, 1863-1865, but was later unsuccessful in running for mayor. In 1876, he was elected a regent of the University of Colorado, and was a prominent factor in this state in promoting educational interests from the public schools to those institutions of higher learning. IIe was regent of the state university during the formative period, and was broad, liberal, and progressive in his views and the application of the same. As a member of the board of capitol managers, he assisted in the completion of that bean- tiful structure. He had a practical turn of mind, and was pleased to see the children visit the state museum. It was nothing unusual to see George Tritch, the silent vis- itor, in the museum, when the one in charge was lecturing to a class of school children, on historical and scientifie subjects. He was especially interested in birds, and fond of talking about them. Mr. Triteh was a man of eonrage, and during the Indian alarm and scare of 1864, he was commissioned a cap- tain of scouts by Governor Evans. During the many times he crossed the plains he had many narrow escapes from these hostiles that often swarmed over that section of the west.
Mr. Tritch was a prominent member of the Masonie order. He was public spirited, liberal and energetic, and though deceased, his name still occupies a proud position among the founders of this city and state.
Mr. Tritch married, at Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, August 25, 1849, Miss Eliza Ham- mond. Mr. and Mrs. Tritch had the follow- ing children: Mary, wife of B. W. Rogers of Denver; Elizabeth, wife of II. H. Good of Denver ; J. Frank ; Emma T., wife of George Snyder, Jr .; Carrie T., wife of M. W. Gano; George, Jr .; Jean T., wife of II. W. Forbes of Boston, and B. Fred, of Denver.
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WILLIAM AUSTIN HAMILTON LOVELAND.
L OVELAND, WILLIAM AUSTIN HAM- ILTON, capitalist, railway builder and pioneer, born in Chatham, Massachusetts, May 30, 1826, died at Lakewood, his coun- try residence, near Denver, Colorado, Decem- ber 17, 1894, was the son of the Reverend Leonard and Elizabeth (Eldridge) Loveland. He was a descendant of Thomas Loveland, who came from Norwich, England, and set-
named after him. After four years he re- turned to Chatham, Massachusetts. He later entered the ministry of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and became one of the eminent divines of that denomination in Illinois. His mother, Elizabeth Eldridge, also a native of Chatham, was a deseendant of some of the historie families of New England.
William A. H. Loveland, their son, in
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WILLIAM AUSTIN HAMILTON LOVELAND
tled in Boston about 1630, and is prominently connected with leading families of the Amer- ican colonial era. His father, the Reverend Leonard Loveland, was a sailor in the War of 1812; taken prisoner by the British, and confined in Dartmouth (England) prison about twenty months. About 1818 he moved west and settled in Ohio at a place now ealled Loveland, which he founded and which was
1827, accompanied his parents to Rhode Island, where he received his primary edu- cation. In 1835, he found employment in a cotton factory, and in 1837, removed with the family to Illinois. Here his father, the Reverend Leonard Loveland, located near Brighton, Macoupin county, then a frontier region, and built a eabin. The son worked on the farm, at the same time attending the
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common sehools, preparing himself for eol- lege, against great disadvantages. He en- tered MeKendree College in 1845, which closed at the end of his first term. Mr. Loveland then became a student at Shurtleff College, at Upper Alton, but owing to failing health, he was compelled to abandon his eol- lege eareer. He then enlisted in an Illinois regiment for the Mexican war, and was ap- pointed wagon master with the supply trains. He experieneed some of the hardest serviee in that war, and was severely wounded at the battle of Chapultepec. Returning to Illinois in July, 1848, and the year following, he started westward with the wild rush to the California gold fields. In May, 1849, with an ox team, he left the Missouri river. on the long journey across the plains and moun- tains to the Pacific coast. He ereeted the first house in Grass Valley, California. Dur- ing a period of about two years, he engaged in mining, but without sueeess. A new field for adventure was then sought in Cen- tral America. Sailing from San Francisco for that country, he intended to take a eon- traet there under the Vanderbilts, to eon- struct a proposed government eanal. This enterprise failing to materialize, Mr. Love- land returned home in 1851, and then en- gaged in mereantile pursuits. The reports of gold discoveries in 1858 in the Pike's Peak region, attraeted the attention of Mr. Love- land, and selling his interests in Illinois, he again started for the west. With a wagon train load of mules and oxen he crossed the plains in 1859, with a large supply of goods and merchandise. He located at Golden, which then had only the nucleus of a settle- ment. Here he built the first house and opened the first store, and was one of the founders of that place. Through his influ- ence, Golden was for several years the eap- ital of the territory, and at one time, a rival to Denver. Golden was then the gateway to the Gregory, Jaekson and other diggings in Clear Creek eanon, and even then, Mr. Loveland began to plan for a railroad to these new mining towns. But the first prae- tieal solution of the question was a wagon road, which he built up this eanon. He paid out of his own money the cost of a railway survey over the mountains to Salt Lake City, anticipating the era of railroad construction that eame later. Mr. Loveland opened the first coal mine at Golden, and also the first briek and pottery works at that place; and, through his influence, manufactures and smelters were established there.
In 1865-1866, Mr. Loveland obtained from the territorial legislature a charter for the construction of the Colorado Central and Pa-
cific Railroad from Denver to Golden, and thenee to Black Hawk and Central and other mining centers up Clear Creek eanon, then the center of mining activity in the territory. In 1870, he directed the building of the divi- sion of this road from Denver to Golden. Later it was completed up the canon, and was known as the Colorado Central; after- ward a part of the Union Pacifie, and now one of the branches of the Colorado and Southern. In its early history, Mr. Love- land was a director, and also president of this road in 1876. In 1877, the present thriving town of Loveland was laid out, and named in his honor. On July 16, 1878, he purchased the Rocky Mountain News, which had been established by William N. Byers in 1859, and from that time eondueted as a republican paper by its founder. Mr. Love- land was an ardent democrat and changed the policy of the paper to that of his own political faith and belief. It was one of the historie events in the territorial period. He assumed editorial and business control of The News, and made its influence felt throughout the Rocky Mountain region.
Mr. Loveland early became one of the political leaders of the territory, and later, during the early days of statehood. He was the presiding officer of a constitutional eon- vention held in 1859, and for several years was a member of the territorial council (senate). In 1878, he was nominated for governor by the democrats, but was defeated, as the state was then strongly republican. Twice his party honored him with a com- plimentary vote for United States Senator. At the national democratie convention held in Cincinnati, in 1880, he received the vote of the Colorado delegation and one from Michigan, for the presidential nomination.
In 1878, he built the cirele railroad around Denver, which property was later sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Mr. Loveland was one of the promoters and the treasurer of the great mining exposition held in Denver in 1880 to 1886. He was a prominent factor in the mining and indus- trial history of the state, making heavy in- vestments therein, and also purchasing real estate. He was the owner of the well known Fanny Barret mine.
Mr. Loveland married, first, at Brighton, Illinois, May 13, 1852, Philena Shaw, who died at that place, January 2, 1854. He mar- ried, second, August 25, 1856, Miranda Ann Montgomery, of Alton, Illinois, and of the latter marriage were born two sons, Franeis W. Loveland (q. v.), attorney-at-law, Den- ver, Colorado, and William Leonard.
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CRAWFORD HILL
CRAWFORD HILL.
H ILL, CRAWFORD, born in Providence, Rhode Island, Mareh 29, 1862, was the son of Nathaniel Peter (United States Sen- ator from Colorado, 1879-1885 (q. v.), born February 18, 1832, died May 22, 1900) and Alice (daughter of Isaac and Harriet (John- son) Hale) IIill. The first appearance of
this branch of the Hill family in this eoun- try, was about 1730, when Nathaniel Hill, born in 1705, and great great grandfather of Crawford Hill, came to the American col- onies, from the county of Cavan, Ireland.
Nathaniel Hill, the progenitor of the family in this country, descended from the
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landed gentry of England and was the great great-grandfather of Crawford Hill. Soon after his arrival in America, he located in a Scotch-Irish settlement west of the Hudson river, on the then most western frontier, known as Dwaarskill, in Hanover precinet, now the town of Crawford, in Orange county, New York. He was a member of Captain John Bayard's militia of Wallakill in 1738, as shown by the official records. In the first published tax list of Rittenburg, Orange county, in 1768, his name is found, but long prior to that time, he was a freeholder, for in 1746, Nathaniel Hill sold to James Craw- ford, a large tract of land. His will, dated March 17, 1780, was the third recorded in Ulster county, and from the provisions made therein, he was possessed of considerable property. Soon after his arrival in this coun- try, he erected upon the Dwaarskill, a stone mansion, which is still occupied by his de- scendants. He had also built, three miles east of Montgomery, now in Orange county, a substantial English appearing homestead of stone and brick, and one of the finest farms in Orange county, and gave this property to his son Peter. Nathaniel Hill was an active member of the Goodwill Presbyterian Church, of which he was also a trustee. In 1745, he married Susanna Armstrong, by whom he had three sons and six daughters, one of the sons, Peter Hill, born at Dwaar- skill, Orange county, in 1751, died October 14, 1795, being the great grandfather of Crawford Hill. He was an officer in the American Revolution, being captain, in 1775, of the minute company from Hanover pre- cinet, Ulster county, New York ; was in com- mand of his company at Fort Constitution, February 13, 1776; and was one of the heroic defenders at Fort Montgomery in 1777, where he rendered distinguished ser- vices. He married Isabella Trimble, about 1774, and resided in the mansion built for him by his father, near Montgomery, within nine miles of the old homestead. Of his children Nathaniel P. Hill (grandfather of Crawford Hill), born in 1781, was educated in Montgomery Academy, of which he later became a patron. He was a lieutenant in Captain Peter Millikin's cavalry company in the War of 1812. Governor De Witt Clinton, in 1819, commissioned him captain of the Orange Huzzars, which he commanded for many years. He was a member of the legislature of New York in 1816, 1819, 1820, and 1825; sheriff of his county in 1820 and 1822; judge of the court of common pleas 1823-1825; member of the board of super- visors in 1833; and, in 1836, presidential
elector, voting for Martin Van Buren. He died May 12, 1842, in the 62nd year of his age. In 1827, he married Matilda Crawford of Scotch-Irish ancestry, whose family was among the earliest to settle in Orange coun- ty, and for whom the town of Crawford was named.
Crawford Hill, son of United States Sen- ator Nathaniel P. Hill, received his early education in the grammar school at Black Hawk, Colorado, having come to this state with his parents in December, 1867. He pre- pared for college in the English and Class- ical School at Providence, Rhode Island, and then entered Brown University, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1885. In August, that same year, he en- tered the business office of the Denver Re- publican, which was owned by his father, Senator Hill, where he remained about four years. He has become interested in many en- terprises, representing large invested inter- ests, and identified prominently with public affairs.
Mr. Hill is president of the Denargo Land Company ; The Hill Land & Investment Com- pany ; The Republican Publishing Company (Denver Republican) ; president of the board of trustees of the Boston & Colorado Smelt- ing Company-in liquidation; treasurer of the United Oil Company; treasurer of the Inland Oil & Refining Company; secretary of the Dolly Varden Mining Company; di- rector of the Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Company ; director First National Bank of Denver: director Young Woman's Christian Association; and director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History. He was a member of the military staffs of Gov- ernors MeIntire and Routt (last term) of Colorado, with the rank of colonel; was an alternate delegate from Colorado to the Re- publican National convention, at Philadel- phia, in 1900; and was chairman of the Colo- rado delegation to the Republican National convention at Chicago, in 1908.
Mr. Hill is a member of the following clubs: Denver Club, Denver Athletic Club (life member), Denver Country Club (life member), University Club (Denver), and the Union Club (New York City ).
He married January 15, 1895, in Mem- phis, Tennessee, Miss Louise Bethell, daugh- ter of William Morgan Sneed, who is con- nected with prominent southern families. Mr. and Mrs. Hill are leaders in the social life of Denver. They have two children: Nathaniel Peter Hill, born January 1, 1896, and Crawford Hill, Jr., born December 9, 1898.
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JOHN WESLEY ILIFF
JOHN WESLEY ILIFF.
I LIFF, JOHN WESLEY. A history of Den- ver and Colorado, containing biographies of the pioneers and prominent men, would be ineomplete without a sketch of the life of John Wesley Iliff. Endowed by nature
with the mind, power and perseverance nee- essary to success in any great avocation, he selected an honest life of business, in which he met with the most abundant success, and left behind him an example of what can be
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accomplished by honest, persevering indus- try. By his great executive power and force of character he won a position which justly entitled him to the distinction of "Cattle King of the Plains."
John Wesley Iliff was born December 18, 1831, and was a son of Thomas Iliff, a well- to-do farmer and raiser of fine stock, near Zanesville, Ohio. The precepts of honest, Christian parents undoubtedly did much to- ward fitting their son for future usefulness. He completed his education at the Ohio Wes- leyan University, Delaware, Ohio, after which his father, anxious to have him re- main near home, offered to invest $7,500 in a farm for him if he would remain upon it. But the son, filled with ambition and stimu- lated by the accounts of western enterprise and western fortunes, declined this offer, saying: "No; give me the $500 and let me go west." Going to Kansas, he remained three years, engaging in such enterprises as his limited means would allow. In 1859, the glowing accounts of the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak were heralded throughout the country, and Mr. Iliff was among the first to cross the plains to try his fortune in the new El Dorado. Realizing the fact that the vast army of gold-seekers must be fed, he invested all his means in a stock of groceries and provisions, for which he found an excel- lent market upon his arrival in Colorado. He engaged for a short time in business in Denver, but in less than a year and a half he invested all he had in a small herd of cattle. This was the foundation of his for- tune and the beginning of the great enter- prise of his life. From this time on, his course was one of steady and rapid progress. He made the cattle business a study, giving to it his almost entire attention and best efforts. He mastered its every detail, gain- ing experience as the business developed, and becoming familiar with all its workings. The influence of his life upon the pastoral interests of Colorado and the west can not be overestimated. He blazed the cattle trails for the great industry from Texas to the ranges of Montana. His operations were bold and daring. He was a man of indomit- able will and perseverance. Whether facing the blizzards of the mountains and plains, or sweltering in the heat of the southern
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