USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume II > Part 23
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On the 19th of January, 1895, Judge Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Emma Walter, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Noah Walter, of Rock Springs, and they have become the parents of two children: Bessie, who was born in Rock Springs in 1896; and Clarice, born in 1901. The former is a high school grad- uate and has also pursued a business course, while now she is with the Stock Growers Mercantile Company. The younger daughter is a student in high school.
Fraternally Judge Johnson is connected with the Eagles, in which he is filling the office of treasurer, and with the Loyal Order of Moose, in which he is serving as secretary. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party, which he has supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. Judge Johnson is held in high regard in the community in which he makes his home not only by reason of his loyalty and fidelity in business but also by reason of a gen- uine personal worth that has won for him wide popularity.
JOSEPH L. WICKS, M. D.
Dr. Joseph L. Wicks, a physician and surgeon of Evanston and vice president of the Stock Growers Bank of that city, was born in Polk, Ashland county, Ohio, December 24. 1870, his father being the late Christian Wicks, who was a native of Ohio and a descendant of one of the old Pennsylvania families of German lineage. Christian Wicks was a carriage builder by trade and resided for many years in Ashland county, Ohio, there remaining until called to his final rest. He was quite successful in his business affairs and thus left to his family a comfortable com- petence when in February, 1899, he passed away at the age of sixty-four years. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Summers and was born in Ohio, her death occurring in Polk, Ashland county, in May, 1913, when she had reached the age of seventy-two years. By her marriage she had become the mother of six children.
Dr. Wicks, who was the fifth in order of birth, acquired a public school edu- cation in his native county and afterward became a student in Heidelberg Uni- versity at Tiffin, Ohio. Later he entered the Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, in 1894, spending a year in that institution. In 1896 he entered the Ohio Medical University at Columbus and was graduated therefrom on the 5th of April, 1898. He first entered upon the active work of his profession in Fairfield, Ohio, where he continued for six months, after which he removed to the west, making his way directly to Evanston, Wyoming. He arrived in that city an entire stranger on the 24th of December, 1898, and entered upon active practice, being first asso- ciated with Dr. R. Harvey Reed, of Rock Springs, who was superintendent of the Wyoming State Hospital. After three months' service there Dr. Wicks re- turned to Evanston and has since been in continuous and active general practice, in which he has met with a substantial measure of success. He belongs to the Wyoming State and the American Medical Associations and something of his high professional standing is indicated in the fact that he was for several years elected
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to the office of treasurer of the former and at one time was chosen as its president. His colleagues and contemporaries accord him high professional standing and the public has given expression of its confidence in his ability in the liberal patronage accorded him. Aside from his profession he is well known in financial circles as vice president of the Stock Growers Bank.
On the 28th of June, 1899. in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Wicks was united in mar- riage to Miss Erma A. List, a native of Ohio and a daughter of George and Alice ( Aid ) List, early residents of Ohio and representatives of old families of Pennsyl- vania. Dr. and Mrs. Wicks have become parents of two children, both born in Evanston : Josephine, born July 22, 1902; and Lucille, born May 15, 1913.
Politically Dr. Wicks is a republican and for two years he filled the office of coroner, to which position he was elected in 1600. He also serves as county health officer, having occupied the position since Igco. and he was a member of the state board of health from 1906 until 1010. He has always taken an active in- terest in politics and in civic matters and he served from 1913 until 1917 as a mem- ber of the city council of Evanston, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many well defined plans and measures for the public good. He is a promi- inent Mason, belonging to lodge, chapter, commandery and Mystic Shrine, being identified with the temple at Rawlins. He has filled all of the chairs in both the chapter and commandery and is a loyal exemplar of the craft. His family is con- nected with the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Wicks and his wife occupy an enviable position in social circles and enjoy the warm regard of all with whom they have been brought in contact. He holds to high standards in professional service and by reason of his laudable ambition he has made steady progress along professional lines and today ranks with the most skilled and able physicians and surgeons not only of Evanston but of all west- ern Wyoming.
ROBERT R. ROSE.
Robert R. Rose, county attorney of Lincoln county and owner and publisher of the Kemmerer Camera, is a well known and valued citizen of Kemmerer, with the public interests of which he has been closely and helpfully associated for a number of years. He is a western man and the spirit of western enter- prise and progress finds exemplification in his career.
He was born at Tripp. South Dakota, October 15. 1880. His father, William H. Rose, is a resident of Denver, Colorado, and a native of the state of New York. His ancestors had settled there prior to the Revolutionary war, the family having been founded in America by William Rose, who was of English birth. He was one of a family of seven brothers, all of whom served in the Revolu- tionary war. William H. Rose, father of Robert R. Rose of this review, was reared and educated in the Empire state and afterward went to Wisconsin in 1860. He was there living at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war and responded to the country's call for troops, serving at the front for three years with the Twenty-third Wisconsin Infantry or until hostilities had closed. His father. W. W. Rose, was also a member of the same regiment. After the war William H. Rose returned to Wisconsin but soon removed to Iowa and later to South Dakota, where he continued his residence until 1889. He then went to Denver, Colorado, where he engaged in the fire insurance business, in which he continued for twenty-three years, becoming one of the best known and most successful representatives of fire insurance in that city. He is now living retired. enjoying the fruits of a well spent life and marked business enterprise. In politics he always affiliated with the republican party from the time that age conferred upon him the right of franchise until 1896, when he joined the ranks of the democratic party. He wedded Maria Huntington, a native of Canada and a direct descendant of Samuel Huntington, who was one of the signers
ROBERT R. ROSE
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of the Declaration of Independence. She is also living and of their family of eight children seven yet survive.
Robert R. Rose was the seventh in order of birth among their children. The public schools afforded him his educational opportunities and after attending the high school of Denver he continued his studies in the University of Denver, there preparing for the practice of law, and in due time he was graduated with the class of 1906, at which time the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him. Prior to that date, however, he was associated with his father in the fire insur- ance business and later continued for several years in the same line of business on his own account, representing several of the large eastern companies. After his graduation he devoted his attention to the conduct of an insurance agency in Denver until 1911, when he entered upon the practice of law in Denver, con- tinuing there until 1914. On the 19th of April of that year he arrived in Kem- merer, where he opened an office and has since been engaged in active practice. He is an able lawyer, with a mind naturally analytical, logical and inductive, and his clear reasoning constitutes one of the forceful elements in his growing success at the bar. He is most devoted to the interests of his clients and never fails to give a thorough preparation before he enters the court, so that he is well qualified for defense as well as for attack. Aside from his duties as a member of the bar he is engaged in newspaper publication, being the owner and editor of the Kemmerer Camera, a weekly journal which is regarded as the lead -. ing paper of Lincoln county. Mr. Rose is also a director of several local busi- ness corporations and his activity and enterprise are constituting an important element in the continued growth and development of this section of the state.
On the 25th of July, 1913, at Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mr. Rose was married to Miss Eleanor Virginia Bronaugh, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Perry S. and Martha (Burke) Bronaugh. The father is now a resident of Auburn, Illinois, but the mother has passed away. She was a representative of an old Kentucky family of Irish lineage, while the Bronaugh family comes of French ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Rose have one son, Robert Arthur, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, November 1, 1915.
Politically Mr. Rose is a democrat, taking a somewhat active interest in the work of the party, and he is now filling the position of county and prosecuting attorney of Lincoln county. He belongs to the Wyoming State Bar Association and he is a member of the Kemmerer Chamber of Commerce, which he aided in organizing. His membership relations extend to Albert Pike Lodge, No. 117, A. F. & A. M., of Denver, Colorado, from which he was demitted to Kemmerer Lodge, No. 33. He is a loyal follower of the craft, believing heartily in its prin- ciples concerning the brotherhood of mankind. He is likewise a member of St. James Episcopal church at Kemmerer and the teachings of that denomination have been a guiding force in his life. Mr. Rose is a man of sterling worth, of marked strength of character, of keen intellect, of progressive spirit, and by reason of his inherent power and his laudable ambition he has worked his way upward steadily, advancing step by step and at each point in his career gaining a broader outlook and wider opportunities, which he has eagerly utilized. His position, as established by the consensus of public opinion, is with the highly honored and representative journalists and lawyers of western Wyoming.
THOMAS H. SIMPSON.
Thomas H. Simpson is the president and treasurer of the Laramie Grocery Company of Laramie, Wyoming, and his business record is one which should serve to inspire and encourage others, for he is of that splendid type of a self-made man which is distinctly a product of American conditions, American opportunities and American enterprise and hard-headed common sense. Starting out to provide for his own support when a youth of thirteen, his course has been marked by
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steady progress, for he has wisely utilized his time, his talents and his opportuni- ties. A modern writer has trenchantly expressed it that "Success depends upon a time-table, not upon a map." In other words, every community holds its oppor- tunities but the one who sees and utilizes these chances is the individual who attains success. Not all days in the career of Thomas H. Simpson have been equally bright, but with unfaltering courage he has pushed his way upward and each forward step has brought him a broader outlook.
He was born on the island of Campobello, in New Brunswick, Canada, July 15, 1862, and is a son of the late James D. Simpson, who passed away in New Brunswick in 1875, when forty-four years of age. He was a native of Nova Scotia and was of Scotch descent. For years he was a seafaring man and in his later life became connected with the fishing industry. He married Lydia Mitchell, a native of Campobello, who long survived him, her death occurring in March, 1914, when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-three years. She was the mother of eleven children, ten of whom were born of her first marriage and one by her second.
Thomas H. Simpson was the fifth in order of birth in her family. He was educated in his native country but his opportunities were somewhat limited, for when a youth of thirteen he faced the necessity of providing for his own main- tenance. Starting out to earn his livelihood, he was first employed at fishing and became connected with his father in the fishing industry, which he followed after his father's death. He then left Canada and crossed the border into the United States, making his way to Wyoming. He settled in Laramie in 1879, then a youth of seventeen years and a comparative stranger in this section of the country. However, he had a sister, Mrs. Delina Mckenzie, living in Laramie, she and her husband having been pioneer settlers of the city, but both are now deceased. After reaching Laramie Mr. Simpson was employed by W. L. Kidd, a pioneer merchant, and subsequently was in the employ of Jamies D. Bannon, a pioneer groceryman of the city. He likewise spent one season in the employ of Phil Mandel, a pioneer ranchman, for he desired a change of occupation and wanted to enter outdoor life. He acted as foreman of the ranch during that period and later he was in the grocery house of Mr. Bannon for a year. In 1882 he became connected with the Trading Commercial Company of Laramie, with which he remained for fif- teen years, working his way upward from the humble position of delivery clerk to that of manager of the business, which was the largest mercantile enterprise in the state. In 1898 Mr. Simpson resigned his position and organized the Laramie Trading Company, incorporating the business in 1901. Prior to that date it had been conducted as a partnership affair but on the incorporation Mr. Simpson became president and treasurer, with Herman Hegewald as vice president and Howard R. Ingham as secretary. Mr. Simpson also extended his activities into the field of banking, becoming the first president of the First State Bank of Laramie, which he aided in organizing and incorporating. He is thus a prominent figure in commercial and financial circles and as such is contributing much to the devel- opment and upbuilding of his city.
In Laramie, in 1887, Mr. Simpson was united in marriage to Miss Tennie E. Welch, a native of Michigan and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. G. Welch, who were early residents of the Wolverine state but have now passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have two living children: Edna, who is the wife of A. W. Royer, a shoe merchant of Laramie ; and Harry T., who is a traveling salesman.
Mr. Simpson votes with the republican party and is a firm believer in its prin- ciples. At one time he served as a member of the city council of Laramie but has not been an active office seeker, preferring to do his duties to the public as a private citizen. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church and he is serving as one of its vestrymen. His chief diversion comes through fishing and hunting and when leisure permits he indulges his love of those sports. His time and atten- tion. however, have been most largely concentrated upon his business affairs and
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steadily he has advanced. Fortunate in possessing character and ability that inspire confidence in others, the simple weight of these characteristics have carried him into important connections.
MOSES PATRICK KEEFE.
Prominent in the business circles of Cheyenne is Moses Patrick Keefe, who is the owner and general manager of the National Lumber Company and is thus active in controlling important interests. A native of Ireland, he was born on the 25th of September, 1853, a son of Michael and Margaret (Quinn) Keefe. The Keefe family is an old one in Ireland and the father was a man of much influence there. He stood for the people as against the landlord system, but was always loyal to his government. However, he was for a time exiled from Ireland and spent that time in England, Scotland and America, but was later permitted to return to his native land to spend his remaining days. Both he and his wife have now passed away. They became the parents of four daughters and six sons, but only two of the daughters are now living, namely, Mrs. McGarvey, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Mrs. Lyons, of Boston, while the only surviving son of the family is the subject of this review.
Moses P. Keefe was the sixth in order of birth. He was educated in Ireland but left school at the age of thirteen years and learned the building trade in his native country. He remained a resident of the Emerald isle until he reached the age of seventeen years, when he crossed the Atlantic alone to the new world and became a resident of Decatur, Illinois. He was also in Chicago at the time of the great conflagration in October, 1871. He was actively employed there at mechanical work and was foreman for two big companies of those days- Gould & Company and Call & Kraft. Leaving the middle west, he made his way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, during the money panic in Chicago in 1873, but in the year after returned and remained until 1876. He then again came to Chey- enne. At the time of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia he heard of the Custer massacre, which determined him to come to Wyoming and take up his permanent abode in order to aid in reclaiming the region for the purposes of civilization He spent the fall and winter of 1876 and 1877 at Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota, after which he returned to the Big Horn country, remaining at Fort McKinney and at Fort Laramie until June, 1877. He worked. by the day, at the building trade until he began business on his own account. In 1879 he went to Leadville, Colorado, but afterward returned to Cheyenne and opened a shop for the conduct of a contracting business, in which he was con- tinuously engaged from 1879 until 1914. Through the intervening period of almost forty years he has contributed in marked measure to substantial growth and improvement of the city. He built the main portion of the state capitol building, most of the public schools of Cheyenne, also the Methodist and Pres- byterian churches, the Knights of Pythias block, the First National Bank build- ing, the Wyoming Trust & Savings Bank building, the Catholic cathedral and other substantial structures. He built half of Fort Russell and as a contractor he continued an active factor in promoting the improvement of the city until 1914. He also built Fort Crook near Omaha, a million dollar contract, and more recently built Fort Omaha, Fort Meade and has done other government work at Fort Robinson. He was likewise the builder of the post at Spokane. Beginning , with January, 1899, he was for eighteen months in Cuba with General Brooks and remodeled a number of Spanish buildings, making them sanitary. All of his government service and fort work are highly satisfactory. In 1910 he estab- lished the National Lumber & Mill Company and has a complete planing mill. equipped to do all kinds of mill work. His plant covers the greater portion of two city blocks. It is the largest plant in Wyoming and its equipment is thor- oughly modern.
M.O. Kule
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In October, 1877. Mr. Keefe was united in marriage in Chicago to Miss Eliza Gaynor Kewley, a daughter of James Kewley, one of the very old settlers of Chicago, arriving at that location when Fort Dearborn was still standing. Mrs. Keefe passed away in March, 1895. She had become the mother of seven chil- dren, five daughters and two sons, of whom Elmer J. is now associated with his father in business. For his second wife, seven years later, Mr. Keefe chose Miss Elizabeth Tilton, a daughter of Meese Tilton, of old Virginia stock that half a century before removed to Kansas and became pioneers of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Keefe have two sons and a daughter.
In politics Mr. Keefe is a republican and served as a member of the ninth assembly of the territorial legislature in 1886. He has been county commissioner for two terms and a member of the city council for a number of terms. He was also mayor of Cheyenne for two years, in 1902 and 1903, but while he has always made an excellent officer through the prompt and faithful discharge of his dutics, he prefers home life to the activity of political office. While he was mayor of Cheyenne the first Granite Springs dam was built. It supplies the largest part of Cheyenne with its water. It holds over one billion two hundred million gallons. Mr. Keefe superintended its building and the construction work was most carefully and conscientiously done. It is said to be one of the finest dams in the world. Fraternally Mr. Keefe is a Mason of high rank. He has taken all the various degrees up to and including the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite and he has crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Industrial Club and to the Cheyenne Club and there is no phase of public life or development in the community in which he is not interested. He stands at all times for progress and improvement and his efforts along business and official lines and as a private citizen have all contributed to the growth, development and upbuilding of this section of the state. He is a man wholly self-made, possessed of fine executive ability, and will always "deliver the goods." He is respected and honored by all who know him and most of all where he is best known.
LEROY E. FOSNER, M. D.
Dr. Leroy E. Fosner, a physician and surgeon practicing at Evanston, where he is also conducting the Woodlawn Hospital, is a native son of Indiana, his birth having occurred in Rochester, Fulton county, that state, on the 11th of August, 1880, his parents being Ellis and Emma ( Reader) Fosner, both of whom were natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where they were reared, educated and married. Removing westward, they took up their abode in Indiana when that was still a frontier state and the father there engaged in farming throughout his re- maining days, his death occurring in Fulton county in 1888, when he was but twenty-nine years of age. His widow still resides in Rochester and is now fifty- four years of age. In their family were three children: Mrs. Fred Izzard, living in Lewistown, Montana ; Mrs. D. O. McCoy, a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana ; and Leroy E.
Through the period of his youth Dr. Fosner was a pupil in the public schools of Rochester. Indiana, and in the Rochester Normal University, in which he pur- sued a course in the scientific department and also a course in the commercial department. He was graduated on the completion of the former in 1904 and on the completion of his commercial course in 1906. He resolved after a careful consideration of the broad field of business and the opportunities offered along many lines to concentrate his efforts and attention upon a professional career, and with that end in view he entered the Indiana State University as a medical student and was graduated on the completion of a four years' course with the class of 1911. He began practice in connection with the state government service at
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Meadow Creek, Washington, and had charge of the government hospital which was maintained in connection with the North Yakima reclamation project. He there remained until October 5, 1913, at which date he arrived in Evanston and opened an office for the private practice of his profession. He has since been one of the resident physicians of the city and has made substantial progress as a physician and surgeon. On the 14th of May, 1914, he opened the Woodlawn Hospital at Evanston, which is thoroughly modern in its equipment and in the methods there followed. There is now capacity for fifteen patients and the most thorough and scientific care is given to these. Dr. Fosner keeps in touch with the trend of modern thought and investigation having to do with the practice of medicine and surgery and his pronounced ability has gained him the wide recogni- tion of his colleagues and contemporaries. He is serving as county physician of Uinta county and he belongs to the Wyoming State Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Fosner was married to Mrs. E. B. Hoen, the widow of Henry Hoen and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Stone. Mrs. Fosner was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the marriage was celebrated in Ogden, Utah, in November. 1913. Dr. Fosner is a Mason, affiliated with Lodge No. 282, A. F. & A. M. of Campbells- burg, Indiana, and the Chapter No. 90, R. A. M., at Rochester, Indiana, and he is also connected with the encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Evanston, Wyoming. He is widely known because of his high professional attain- ments and his growing skill, and his fellow townsmen and his professional col- leagues attest his worth both as a man and as a representative of the medical profession.
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