Mardos Collection
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 145
79, and for years he served on the board of trustees for Wolfe Hall, Jarvis Hall and St. Luke's Hospital. When the Colorado State Historical and Natural History Society was organized January 10, 1879, he was made its president, an office that he held till 1897, when he resigned. The result of his work, with that of others, in this society is shown in the large collection of prehistoric relics now in the capitol. When the first Grand Army post was established here in 1868, largely through his efforts among the soldiers in enlisting their interest in the work, it was felt that he was the one to occupy the highest office in the post; and he was made the commander. Soon afterward Gen. John A. Logan appointed him provisional department commander of Colorado and Wyoming, he being the first to occupy that position. From 1866 to 1876 many articles concerning the climate of Colorado, and its effect upon certain types of disease, were written by him.
June 20, 1871, Dr. Bancroft married Miss Mary C. Jarvis, daughter of George A. Jarvis, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who endowed Jarvis Hall of Denver, Colo. This union was blessed with three children, viz.: Mary M., George J. and Frederick W.
ON. WILLIAM N. BYERS. It would be impossible to write a history of Denver without making frequent allusion to the subject of this article, for he has been intimately identified with its most important enterprises since the days of its infancy. To his enterprise the city is indebted to all extent impossible to estimate. His far-seeing sagacity and business acumen have overleaped obstacles that secured to others insurmountable. Especially is his name associated with the founding and early history of Denver's oldest paper, the Rocky Mountain News. He arrived in Denver April 17, 1859, bringing with him the first printing press west of Omaha, and at once established a weekly newspaper. Success smiled upon his efforts and rendered possible the establishment of a daily paper, the first issue of which appeared August 18, 1860. He continued the manager and editor of the paper until 1878, when he severed his connection with it. In the early days of Colorado he did much to attract settlers by publishing articles pertaining to this State, explaining its resources, the advantages it presented for stock-raising and farming, the wealth of its mountains in minerals, and the salubrity of its climate. Through his pen he did probably as much as anyone in Colorado to enhance the interests of the state and render possible its wonderful development of to-day.
The organization with which the name of Mr. Byers is now most intimately associated is the famous festival of mountain and plain, which has been held annually since 1895. He was a member of the first board of directors, and since the second year has been the president. Much of his time is given to preparation for this great celebration, which attracts thousands to Denver. Many of the most striking features of the festival are original with him, among them the bal champedre (outdoor ball), when five thousand or more persons, in masquerade attire, dance under a covered canvas on Broadway. There are four grand parades, the one on the first day representing a pageant of progress in the history of the state and five miles in length. On the second day occurs the great masked parade, while on the third day is the military and social parade, ending with a sham battle at City Park, and in the evening the parade of the slaves of the silver serpent.
Mr. Byers is descended from a Scotch family that, during the religious persecution of the sixteenth century, was driven into the borders of Ireland, and there took part in the siege of Londonderry. They emigrated to Pennsylvania when that state was still a wilderness, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The great-grandfather of our subject, and his three sons, took part in the Revolution. The father, Moses Watson Dyers, was born in Washington County, Pa., and at the age of four years, in 1808, accompanied his parents to Ohio. They settled at Circleville, Pickaway County, but later he and a brother removed to Darby Plains, in Madison County, where he improved a place of nearly three hundred acres. In 1860 he sold his property there and settled near Muscatine, Iowa, where he improved a large tract. His last days were spent in Muscatine, where he died in 1866, at the age of sixty-two years. In religious belief he was a Presbyterian. His wife, Mary A. Brandenburg, was a member of a well-known German family that became early settlers of Montgomery County, in the Miami Valley of Ohio; she died in Iowa in 1884.
Of the family of six children, five attained
146
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. maturity and four are living, William N. being the eldest. Mrs. Ann Eliza McDonald resides in Washington, Iowa; Mrs. Olivia M. Kessinger makes her home in Muscatine; Mrs. Rachel Jane Morris resides in Denver. One of the sons, James H., was a member of an Iowa regiment during the Civil war and was killed in 1863, during the siege of Vicksburg. Our subject was born in Madison County, Ohio, February 22, 1831, and spent his early years upon a farm. In 1850, with team and wagon, he removed to Iowa, and the following year he engaged in government surveying in western Iowa, soon becoming deputy United States surveyor in Iowa, and later in Oregon and Washington. From there, in the winter of 1853-54, he went to California, returning east after a few months. For a short time he engaged in railroad surveying, but when the Kansas and Nebraska bill opened those territories for settlement, he went to Omaha, which then had only one house and that a log cabin. As county surveyor, he laid out a large part of the city. He was the first deputy United States surveyor appointed in Nebraska, in which capacity he ran the township and section lines in the eastern part of the territory. When the city government of Omaha was established, he was elected an alderman, and in 1854-55 he was a member of the first territorial legislative assembly of Nebraska, From Omaha he came to Denver early in 1859. Here he established the now famous Rocky Mountain News, which in 1872 became an incorporated company, with himself as president.
The connection of Mr. Byers with Denver's history has by no means been limited to journalistic work. He has been interested in the development of mining properties, is now a member of the executive committee of the city library, and a member of the chamber of the commerce, of which he was president in 1893 and 1894. He was interested in the Denver Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande, South Park, and Denver, Utah & Pacific roads, all of which had an important part in the developing of Denver's resources. From the organization of the Denver Tramway Company he has been a director, and since it became the Denver Consolidated Tramway Company he has also been vice-president and acting president of the company, and a member of the executive and auditing committees. In Muscatine, Iowa, in 1854, he married Miss Elizabeth Minerva Sumner, granddaughter of Governor Lucas, an early governor of Ohio and afterwards the last territorial and first state governor of Iowa. The Sumners are an old Virginia family and are connected with the famous statesman, Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts. Two children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Byers. Frank, the son, owns a horse and cattle ranch at Hot Sulphur Springs, Grand County, this state. The daughter, Mary Eva, is the wife of William F. Robinson.
From the organization of the party Mr. Byers has been a stanch Republican. For years, through his influence with his pen, he was a power in public affairs. For the admission of Colorado into the Union he labored unceasingly. In June, 1859, he was chairman of the first convention called to secure a state organization, but this convention adjourned without definite action. In 1864 he was a member of the convention that framed the first state constitution, under which the enabling act was passed by both houses of congress, but vetoed by Andrew Johnson. In 1864 President Lincoln appointed him postmaster in Denver, which office he held until 1867, resigning then on account of the pressure of business. Again, under the administration of President Hayes, he was appointed postmaster April 14, 1879, and served until 1883.
The rapid growth of the city between his first term as postmaster and his second tenure of the office brought many problems before the postal authorities for solution. During the summer months, when the city was crowded with visitors from the east, the throngs around the postoffice were so great that it was almost impossible to gain access to the building. In front of each delivery window would form long lines extending out into the street, and although the delivery clerks worked unceasingly people sometimes were obliged to wait an hour for their mail. Such a condition of things could not be tolerated in a growing and enterprising city. Upon accepting the position the second time, Mr. Byers again set himself to work to secure improvements. It was largely through his influence and untiring efforts that the free delivery system in Denver was organized and he at once began to plan for its establishment. It was the work of many days before the system was put into operation. The
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 147
force at first consisted of only six letter carriers who were properly equipped and trained. Letter boxes were placed on convenient corners through out the city, and soon the people began to reap the benefit of the improved system. Before the expiration of his term of office about thirty carriers were employed. The telegraph had been introduced in October, 1853; the street railway system had been inaugurated in January, 1872; the steam cars had brought Denver into touch with other localities June 24, 1870, when the first railroad train reached Denver over the Denver pacific road; water and gas works had been introduced, fire alarms and telephones, so that the free delivery system was about the last ''link'' that was necessary to constitute Denver a metropolitan city. It was during Mr. Byers' term of office from 1879 to 1883 that Denver made giant strides toward becoming a metropolis and the queen of all our mountain states and it was during these busy years so fruitful of future greatness that Mr. flyers worked faithfully and enthusiastically to bring his department to its subsequent excellence, thus adding no small share towards its growth and development.
Fraternally Mr. Byers is past master of Denver Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M., past high priest of Denver Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., and for two terms grand high priest of the grand chapter of Colorado. On the organization of the Knights Templar Commandery in Denver, he was elected the first candidate for the orders in Colorado and later was elected eminent commander and served as such several years. In the organization of the Pioneer Society he took an active part, and served as its first secretary, later was president for several years. Some years after the organization in 1859 the records were lost and in 1866 the society was re-organized. He is president of the Colorado State Historical and Natural History Society which has the best collection of cliff dwellers' relics in the world.
From this resumé of the life of Mr. Byers it will he seen that he has borne a very active part in the growth of Denver and indeed of the state itself. His sympathy and support have always been given to measures calculated to promote the welfare of the people. In earlier days the influence of his pen was given toward the advancement of the city; later, through other ways, he has been no less potent in securing the promotion of public-spirited and progressive projects. It is doubtful if, in a review of the eminent men of the state, there could be found a man who has done more than he in the promotion of the state's welfare from the early settlement of Colorado to the present time.
The mother of Mr. Dick was Ann Eliza Pratt, daughter of Luke N. Pratt, a native of Connecticut, and member of an old family in that state, her father removing to Erie County, N. Y., and becoming a pioneer farmer. She died in that county, leaving two sons and two daughters, two of whom, our subject and Mrs. A. M. Hawley, of Canon City, reside in Colorado. The former, who was next to the eldest in the family, was educated in Aurora Academy, and taught for two years in district schools prior to entering Hamilton College in 1871. Immediately upon his graduation in 1875, with the degree of A. B., he was appointed principal of Hamburg Academy, and two years later accepted a more favorable position as principal of the Gowanda (N.Y.) schools. In 1880 he was admitted to the bar and for three years practiced law in Buffalo, N. Y.
Removing to Colorado in the fall of 1883, Mr. Dick accepted the superintendency of the Trinidad schools, where he remained for five years, and during two years of this time he served both as county and city superintendent. He was the first Republican who was elected county superintendent in Las Animas County. At the state election in 1888 he was elected by the Repub-
148
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. lican party to the office of state superintendent of schools, which position he filled with credit for one term. During his term of office he laid the corner stone of the State Normal School at Greeley.
The Denver Normal and Preparatory School, of which Mr. Dick is principal, was founded by himself, and was the first school of the kind established in the state. It is a most creditable educational institution, and has received the highest endorsements from educators. Until the 1st of May, 1898, the school was located in the Kittredge building, but at that time it was moved to the Normal building, Nos. 1543-45 Glenarm street. It has seven complete departments, viz.: Normal, for the training of public school teachers; Kindergarten, with life diplomas, valid throughout the state of Colorado; College preparatory, fitting pupils for Yale and Harvard, or any other leading educational institution; Grade department, where instruction is given in any of the eight grades of the grammar schools; Modern language department; Commercial department, and department of oratory, physical culture and dramatic art. The faculty consists of Mr. Dick, R. M. Streeter, Margaret Grabill, Fordyce P. Cleaves, Mrs. R. M. Streeter, Nelson Rhoades, Jr., Henry Reade, W. J. Whiteman, and Mina McCord Lewis. A special summer term of five weeks is held each year. The Denver Commercial Institute has been incorporated with the Normal school, and furnishes instruction in stenography, bookkeeping, typewriting, Spanish, commercial law and arithmetic, and general correspondence.
In addition to his work in connection with the school, Mr. Dick is treasurer of the Rocky Mountain School Aid & Supply Company. He was the founder of the Rocky Mountain Educator, a monthly journal devoted to the interests of teachers, students, school directors and educational institutions of the Rocky Mountain region. Of this he is now the editor and manager. The journal is high in its standard and interesting and comprehensive, and is now nearing its fourth volume as a successful paper for educators. Politically Mr. Dick is a Republican, and has attended every state convention, with one exception, since his residence in Colorado. He and his wife are members of the Unity Church. At one time he was president of the State Teachers' Association of Colorado, and is a member of the Colorado School Masters' Club, the National Educational Association (of which he has been state manager) and the Educational Alliance. Fraternally he is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen being a charter member of the latter lodge in Trinidad.
In Erie County, N. Y., June 29, 1876, Mr. Dick married Miss Florence E. Sprague, who was born in that county, a daughter of Norman B, Sprague. She is a very intellectual woman, was a charter member of the Woman's Club of Denver, and is now president of the educational department of that organization. Their only child, Florence E., died in Trinidad when nine years of age.
Mr. Baxter was born in Henderson, N. C., and is a grandson of William Baxter, a native of Ireland, who came to America and settled in Charleston, S. C., at seventeen years of age, but later removed to Rutherford, N. C., where he became owner of a plantation. He married Miss Katherine Lee. Their son, John Baxter, was born in Rutherford in 1819 and became an attorney. When his son, our subject, was two years of age he removed to Knoxville, Tenn., where he became a prominent lawyer. He was a member of the constitutional convention of Tennessee in 1870, at which time the present constitution was adopted. In 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes as one of the United States circuit judges, his territory being the sixth circuit, embracing Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan. He was filling that office at the time of his death, in the spring of 1886, when he was
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 149
sixty-seven years of age. During the war he adhered to the Union. His was a turbulent career, for his talents brought him into prominence during the critical period of our nation's history.
The mother of our subject was Orra Ann Alexander, who was born in Asheville, N. C., the daughter of Mitchell Alexander by his marriage to Nancy Foster, both natives of Virginia. Her grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution and lost a limb in one engagement. The family is of Scotch descent. Mrs. Baxter died in 1859. She was the mother of four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living but two daughters. The third of these was George W., who was born January 7, 1855. He was educated in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn. In May, 1873, he entered the Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in June, 1877, and was then assigned to the Third United States Cavalry as second lieutenant of Company H, with which he served in Wyoming, Dakota and Nebraska. In July, 1881, immediately after his promotion to first lieutenant, he resigned from the service and turned his attention to ranching. In 1886 President Cleveland appointed him governor of Wyoming, but becoming involved in a controversy with his immediate superior, the secretary of the interior, he resigned after filling the office three months. In 1889 he was a member of the constitutional convention that adopted the present constitution of Wyoming, and after the admission of the state, in 1890, he was the Democratic candidate for governor, but the state being Republican by a large majority his candidacy was with no expectation of success. He made Cheyenne his home until 1895, when he came to Denver, and has since resided in this city.
At Knoxville, Tenn., in 1880, Mr. Baxter married Miss Margaret McGhee, who was born there and received her education in Georgetown Academy, Washington, D. C., and in Europe. She was a daughter of Charles M. McGhee, who was closely identified with railroad interests in Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter are the parents of five children, Cornelia, Margaret, Katherine, Charles McGhee and George. The family attend St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Fraternally Mr. Baxter is connected with Cheyenne Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M., the Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commnandery, also El Jebel Temple, N. M. S., of Denver. He is still a member of the Association of Graduates of West Point.
The Remolino Coffee and Sugar Company was established in 1893, with Mr. Nesmith as president, and his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. F. L. McFarland, as associates in the enterprise. They own a coffee plantation situated south of the Gulf of Mexico, on the Coatzacoalcos River, on the Isthmus of Tehanntepec, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico. In addition to the management of the plantation, they operate, for general traffic, a steamboat on the river, the vessel being small, but as large as the exigencies of that traffic demand. Not only on account of his business interests there, but also because he is fond of travel, Mr. Nesmith has visited almost every point of interest in Mexico. Of late years he has taken up the study of the Spanish language, in which he has gained such proficiency as to construction and grammar that-he can read and write the language correctly and with facility.
From Parker's history of Londonderry, N. H.,
150
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. page 290, we quote the following regarding the pedigree of the Naesmyth, Nasmyth or Nesmith family (for in these various ways the name has been spelled):
1:--"James Nesmith emigrated from River Bann, Londonderry, Ireland, to America, in 1718. He was one of the first sixteen settlers of Londonderry, N. H., a highly respectable member of the colony and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He married, in Ireland, Elizabeth McKeen, and by her had children: Arthur, James, John, Thomas and Elizabeth.
"Arthur (1), who was born in Ireland, settled in Maine, and had children: James, John, Benjamin and Mary. This James (son of Arthur 1) served in the Revolution in the company commanded by Capt. George Reid; was at the battle of Bunker Hill; afterwards was promoted to captain and commanded a company in Canada; and also in Rhode Island under General Sullivan. He was frank and generous in disposition, dignified, and was distinguished for intrepedity, activity and muscular strength.
"James Nesmith (2), son of James (1), was also born in Ireland and was also in Captain Reid's company as a Revolutionary soldier. He lived at Londonderry, and had children: James, who, married Martha McClure, and was an elder in the church; Jonathan, who married Eleanor Dickey and removed to Antrim in 1778 and was an elder in the church; Robert, who married Jane Anderson; and John, who married Elizabeth, sister of Gen. George Reid, and died at Londonderry in 1815, aged eighty-seven. John and Elizabeth left the following named children: James, who married Elizabeth Brewster, of Antrim; Arthur, who married May Duncan and moved to Ohio; John; and Thomas, born 1731, who married Annie Wilson, settled at Windham, near Londonderry, and had children.
"John Nesmith (3) was born November 26, 1766, at Londonderry, N. H. Lived on the homestead. Married February 28, 1797, Susan (Sukey) Hildreth, who was born at Londonderry, June 22, 1777; they left children: John Pinkerton, Isabella, Samuel Hildreth, James P., Mary, Thomas and Elizabeth.
"Samuel Hildreth Nesmith (1), born August 21, 1803, at Londonderry, N. H., married April 19, 1831, Priscilla Brown at Circleville, Ohio. The father died in August, 1876, and the mother July 10, 1851. They had children: John Wellington; James Browne, born February 5, 1837; and Ellen Mary, born August 20, 1840.
"John Wellington Nesmith, born January 4, 1834, near Chillicothe, Ohio, married October 30, 1856, Miss Elizabeth R. Dickson, of Pittsfield, Ill. Children: Isabel, born June 13, 1859, at Pittsfield, Ill.; Eleanor, born July 13, 1869, at Blackhawk, Colo. Eleanor Nesmith married February 26, 1890, Finlay Le Roy McFarland, of Denver; Isabel Nesmith married October 7, 1891, James Porter Evans, of Denver.''
Tracing the more remote lineage of the Nesmith family, we find that they were represented among the families going from Scotland to the Valley of the Bann, Ireland, in 1690. There James Nesmith was born in 1692 and from there he emigrated to America in 1718. As before stated, he was one of the sixteen original settlers of Londonderry, N. H. He was a signer of the memorial to Governor Shute, and was appointed elder of the West Parish Church on its organization in 1739. He died in 1767, aged seventy-five. His wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James and Janet (Cochran) McKeen was born in Ireland and died in New Hampshire in 1763, aged sixty-seven.
From the autobiography of Sir James Nasmyth we learn the following regarding the history and traditions of the Nasmyth or Nesmith family. He writes: ''Sir Bernard Burke, in his 'Peerage and Baronetage,' gives a faithful account of the ancestors from which I am lineally descended. The family of Naesmyth, says Burke, is one of remote antiquity in Tweeddale, and has possessed large lands there since the thirteenth century. They fought in the wars of Bruce and Baliol, which ended in the independence of Scotland. The following is the family legend of the origin of the name of Naesmyth: In the troublous times which prevailed in Scotland before the union of the crowns, the feuds between the king and the barons were almost constant. In the reign of James III. the house of Douglas was the most prominent and ambitious. The earl not only resisted his liege lord, but entered into a combination with the king of England, from whom he received a pension. He was declared a rebel and his estates were confiscated. He determined to resist the royal power, and crossed the border with his followers. He was met by the Earl of
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 151
Angus, the Maxwells, the Johnstons and the Scotts. In one of the engagements which ensued, the Douglas appeared to have gained the day, when an ancestor of the Naesmyths, who fought under the royal standard, took refuge in the smithy of a neighboring village. The smith offered him protection, disguised him as a hammerman, with a leather apron in front, and asked him to lend a hand at his work.
"While thus engaged a party of the Douglas partisans entered the smithy. They looked with suspicion on the disguised hammerman, who, in his agitation, struck a false blow with the sledge hammer, which broke the shaft in two. Upon this one of pursuers rushed at him, calling out, 'Ye're nae smyth.' The stalwart hammerman turned upon his assailant, and wrenching a dagger from him, speedily overpowered him. The smith himself, armed with the big hammer, effectually aided in overpowering and driving out the Douglas men. A party of the royal forces made their appearance, when Naesmyth rallied them, led them against the rebels, and converted what had been a temporary defeat into a victory. A grant of lands was bestowed upon him for his service. His armorial bearings consisted of a head dexter with a dagger, between two broken hammer shafts, and there they remain to this day. The motto was, Non arte sed marte (Not by art but by war).''
The father of our subject, who removed front New Hampshire to Ohio about 1830, was a civil engineer on the Ohio canal, and later a contractor. In the fall of 1834 he removed to Pike County, Ill., settling near Pittsfield, where he was a pioneer farmer. About 1850 he moved to Barry, Ill., and engaged in merchandising, but later went to Canton, Mo., where he remained until his death at the age of over seventy. His first wife, Priscilla, who was born near Chillicothe, Ohio, was a daughter of White Brown, a native of Delaware, settling in Ohio about 1808 and dying upon a farm there. He owned many slaves at one time, but becoming convinced that slavery was wrong, he freed them, thus losing his fortune. Mrs. Nesmith died when our subject was fourteen years of age, leaving besides him a younger brother and sister, James B., later a civil engineer engaged on the Iron Mountain road at Cape Girardeau, Mo.; and Mrs. Ellen Burke, now of Kansas.
When a boy our subject learned the machinist's trade in Pittsfield and followed it in St. Louis for a time; while there he was asked to come to Colorado and erect a mill in what is now Gilpin County, which he did, afterward running the mill for a year, but before the year expired the firm failed. It was in June, 1860, that he arrived in the mountains, after an ox-train journey of forty-two days, from Nebraska City via Fort Kearney to Nevada Gulch. In February, 1861, he came to Denver and entered a small machine shop and foundry owned by Langford & Co. In the fall of 1862 the shop was moved to Blackhawk, Gilpin County; in 1864 he was made superintendent of the shop and remained with the company until 1869, when he resigned to enter the milling business. Building a mill in Blackhawk, he had charge of it some two years. About 1874 he was locomotive engineer on construction of the Colorado Central Railroad, and when the line was completed into Blackhawk be became master mechanic. The next year he was made master of transportation, with headquarters at Golden. About 1876 he was made master mechanic of the Upper Division of the Kansas Pacific (now a part of the Union Pacific), including the lines from Denver to Wallace, Denver to Boulder, Kit Carson to Los Animas, and Denver to Cheyenne. In 1878 he was appointed by Governor Evans superintendent of the South Park Railroad, and continued in that position until January, 1879, when, the iron works having been moved back to Denver, he resigned to become superintendent of the plant.
In Pittsfield, Ill., Mr. Nesmith married Elizabeth, sister of Judge Dickson, of Leadville. They are the parents of two daughters. The family attend the First Congregational Church and take an interest in its welfare. Mr. Nesmith is a member of the chamber of commerce and board of trade. While in Illinois he was made a Mason, and was past master of Blackhawk Lodge No. 11, A. F. & A. M., but is now a member of Oriental Lodge No. 87, in Denver, also a member of the Royal Arch Chapter. He represented Gilpin County in the upper house of the territorial legislature, sessions of 1868 and 1870, during which time he was a stalwart supporter of the cause of woman's suffrage.
For many years Mr. Nesmith has been a student of the physical sciences. He is an expert in
.
152
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the chemistry and metallurgy of the smelting of ores of the precious metals, as gold, silver, copper, lead, etc., and is a recognized authority on blast furnace construction and practice as adapted to such minerals. While in Blackhawk and vicinity, from 1868 to 1874, he practiced civil and mining engineering, in which he has few superiors to this day. He is a member of the National Association of Mining Engineers, also of the Denver Society of Civil Engineers and the Colorado Scientific Society, of Denver.
Associated with him in the Colorado Iron Works, Mr. Nesmith has a half-brother, S. H., who was born to the marriage of Samuel H. Nesmith and Caroline Rush, of Barry, Ill., and by that union there was a daughter born, Julie, who married William H. Drescher, and resides in Hannibal, Mo. In addition to Mr. Nesmith and his brother, the former's daughter, Mrs. Isabel Evans, is connected with the company, being its secretary and treasurer, while John H. Morconi fills the position of superintendent.
ILLIAM W. GRANT, M. D. During the years that have elapsed since he came to Denver, Dr. Grant has built up a large practice in this city and has become known as a skillful surgeon and a successful physician, who is accurate alike in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. While his specialties are surgery and gynecology, yet in every department of the profession his knowledge is exhaustive and his skill recognized. He has had the advantage not only of study in the institutions of our own land, but in those abroad, having spent one year in the study of surgery and gynecology in the hospitals of Berlin, Vienna and London.
The record of the Grant family appears in the sketch of ex-Governor Grant, the doctor's brother. The family consisted of seven children, of whom William was the third. He was born in Russell County, Ala., near Columbus, Ga., and in boyhood attended a private school there. His boyhood life was spent on a southern plantation, where he was instructed by his father in the making of every kind of farm implement and in their use in the cultivation of corn, cotton and other farm products. He also learned to fell trees, split rails and dig ditches, and, in fact, did every kind of farm work, and did it well. He worked side by side with the colored help, and no favors were shown him, although his father was a kind and indulgent man. Thus he learned to appreciate individual effort and its results. School study and farm work were alternated; yet before the age of fifteen he and his brother, the ex-governor, read Virgil and had commenced Sallust. However, they were not "hothouse" products, for neither was familiar with the letters of the alphabet until seven and eight years of age respectively.
At the age of sixteen our subject entered as a private a company of Alabama artillery known as Clanton's battery in Gen. James H. Clanton's brigade, and served during the last sixteen months of the Civil war, being promoted from the ranks to the position of sergeant of artillery, in charge of the gun. He was present in the engagements of Mount Hope Church and Columbus, Ga. Returning home at the close of the war he attended school for a year and then began the study of medicine. For a time he read under private tutelage, then spent a year (1867) in Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, and the following year entered Bellevue and Long Island Medical College, from which he graduated in 1868 with the degree of M. D.
Shortly after his graduation Dr. Grant opened an office in Nebraska, near Sioux City, Iowa, but in 1872 removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he continued for a number of years, and while there held the office of president of the Scott County Medical Society. He was also president of the Iowa and Illinois Central District Medical Association. In 1885 the surgeon-general of the United States army appointed him post surgeon at the Rock Island arsenal, and he held the position until 1888, when he resigned on account of going to Europe. On his return from abroad, in December, 1889, he came to Denver, where he has all office in the Mack building. In addition to his general practice he is one of the surgeons to St. Joseph's hospital and president of the staff, and is also surgeon to the Rock Island Railroad here. The various professional organizations the American Academy of Railway Surgeons, American, State and Denver and Arapahoe County Medical Societies--number him among their members. All discoveries in therapeutics, all improvements in surgery, and, in fact, every development made in the profession, receives his
 |
 |
 |
 |