J. B. BARCLAY, M. D.
Mardos Collection
J. B. BARCLAY, M. D.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 285
acquired the rudiments of his education. In 1888 he entered the sophomore class of the University of Pennsylvania, but after a year in the classical course he entered the medical department of the same institution, from which he graduated in 1893, with the degree of M. D. He had, however, studied so tirelessly in the acquirement of professional knowledge, that his health had become seriously impaired, and in selecting a location he deemed it necessary to seek a salubrious climate, where he might hope to soon regain his former strength. Accordingly he came to Denver, where he has made his home since June of 1893 and where he has become favorably known as a specialist in the treatment of nervous and mental diseases. He is neurologist to St. Anthony's Hospital and alternate in mental and nervous diseases to the county hospital. His office is in the Jackson building. He is a member of the Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania, the Clinical and Pathological Society, Denver and Arapahoe County, and State Medical Societies, the Rocky Mountain Inter-State Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
OSEPH B. BARCLAY, M. D., who died at his home near Longmont, Boulder County, September 27, 1896, was one of the honored pioneers of this locality. When he settled here it was his intention to retire from his professional life, but his talents were discovered and his services were always in demand up to the last year of his career. A loyal, faithful citizen, neighbor and friend, he won the deepest regard and veneration of all who were privileged to know him, and always sustained the character of a true Christian gentleman.
The American Barclays are descended from one David Barclay, a native of Kirktonhill, Scotland. Born in 1610, he traveled in Germany when young, and enlisted in the army of Gustavns Adolphus, of Sweden, where, in numerous battles, he won distinction, and was promoted to the rank of major. Upon the breaking out of the civil wars in his home land he returned and bore a conspicuous part in the same, being intrusted with many important commissions and military commands. By the energy and prudence he displayed he gained a lasting reputation, nor were his talents confined to military affairs, for almost equally signal were his civic labors. Twice he was a member of the parliament, but after the Restoration he fell under the displeasure of the government for some unexplained reason, and for a period was kept a close prisoner in Edinburgh Castle. One reason assigned was that he had been a trustee under the usurper, although he had suffered in the cause of Charles I, not only by being thrust from all his posts of office, but also by having his estates confiscated and retained for several years. At last he was liberated without having had any charge laid to his doors or reason given him for his commitment to prison. His son Robert was the author of "Barclay's Apology to the Society of Friends," since one of their standard works, and when an extensive grant of land was given the Quakers in New Jersey, Mr. Barclay was appointed by Charles I to be the first governor of the province of eastern New Jersey.
Dr. Joseph B. Barclay was a grandson of Rev. David Barclay, and son of Rev. Charles R. Barclay, who founded the town of Punxsutawney, Pa. The doctor was born in Northampton County, Pa., March 19, 1819, and was reared to manhood in that and Jefferson Counties, Pa. When he was nineteen years of age he entered Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and graduated from that institution in 1840. His initial practice was in the town where he had grown tip, but in 1843 he removed to Beverly, Ohio, and within a year located in Carmichaels, Greene County, Pa., where he remained six years. Then for a score of years he was numbered among the leading physicians of Brownsville, Pa. Notwithstanding the fact that he resided in a community where the majority of the inhabitants were not in favor of abolition, he was of such sterling, strong convictions, that he openly advocated the principle of human liberty for the black man as well as for the white man, nor did he lose many friends or patrons in spite of his views. When the war broke out he entered the Union army as first assistant surgeon of the Two Hundred and Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry, serving until the close of the war, when he was granted an honorable discharge.
For a long time Dr. Barclay had thought seriously of removing to the great west, and in 1870 he joined the Union colony as a charter member and settled in Weld County, Colo. Later he
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. concluded to take up his residence near the mountains, and, therefore, located a soldier's claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Boulder County, and identified himself with the Chicago Colony of Longmont. As has been stated, he expected to devote himself to a pastoral life, but his professional ability was not long "hidden under a bushel," and he was busy and useful as long as he lived.
In 1841 Dr. Barclay married Jane B. Cooper, who was a native of Indiana County, Pa., born June 5, 1822. With her parents she had removed to Bucks County, and later to Jefferson County, Pa. Her mother was a niece of Capt. Samuel Brady, the noted government scout, and a hero of the battle of Bunker Hill. Another uncle, a veteran of the war of 1812, was Gen. Hugh Brady, of whom General Scott said: "God Almighty never made a more honest or braver man." Eight children were born to Dr. Barclay and his most estimable wife, but four are deceased. Mary E. is the wife of Maj. William Norcross, city treasurer of Greeley, Colo.; Charles is au attorney of Philadelphia, Pa.; and James C. is a resident of Longmont, Colo.
Edgar Barclay, who was horn October 2, 1857, in Brownsville, Pa., and is the seventh child of Dr. Barclay, has had charge of his father's business affairs for several years, and since the death of his father has been the sole manager of the estate. He is a young man of genuine ability and executive talent, these qualities having been fostered in him by his financial experience in the east. He graduated in law in Philadelphia eleven years ago, and returned to Colorado, intending to practice here. However, he was called back to Philadelphia to assist in the organization of a commercial enterprise, which consumed his time up to 1893. He then came to Colorado and relieved his father of the weight of business cares which bore heavily upon him in his declining days.
ATHANIEL B. JOHNSON, a successful stock-raiser living one and one-half miles south of Altona ,Boulder County, was born in Winneshiek County, Iowa, August 7, 1857, and was the younger of two children, having a sister, Mrs. Mary Woodward, who resides in Howard County, Iowa. When he was four weeks old his mother died, and the friend, Mrs. Joshua P. Johnson, who had attended her in her last illness, feeling a tender pity in her heart for the orphan boy, took him home with her, there she supplied every comfort that her means permitted. When she and her husband decided to move to Colorado they legally adopted the child, then two and one-half years of age, and his father's name of David Easier was changed to his adopted father's name of Johnson.
In the spring of 1860 the family came to Colorado, where Mr. Johnson engaged in mining. After some years he came to this valley, where he worked on a farm for some time, and then took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, situated one mile north of Hay Stack Mountain. On that place he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in September, 1897. He was a native of Clarke County, Ohio, born in 1818, and was seventy-nine years of age at the time of his death.
In boyhood our subject acquired a common school education. While he was in school, on the breaking out of small-pox in the neighborhood, he was vaccinated, and later, when his arm had healed, he took off the scab and went around the neighborhood vaccinating the boys who had escaped the doctors in their rounds. In that way he was given the name of "Doc," which has clung to him ever since. At the age of sixteen he began at farm work and herding cattle, trading horses, etc. When he was nineteen he went to the northern part of the state, where he worked as a cowboy for two years. Returning to Left Hand, he farmed for one year, then went again to the northern part of the state with a bunch of cattle of his own. There he took care of his cattle until the fall of 1880 and at the same time worked for others. On selling his stock, he returned to Left Hand. February 14, 1881, he married Mrs. Flotilla Dagle, the widow of Joseph Dagle, and daughter of Joseph and Herrilda (Pribble) Hall.
After his marriage Mr. Johnson took up one hundred and sixty acres of land as a homestead and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres, where he now resides. He has since followed stockraising and has met with remarkable success in his business ventures. He is one of the few men who have made a success of the cattle business at all stages of the work, and his efficiency in the business has made him prominent among
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the stock-raisers of his community. In addition to his cattle interests, he takes an active part in public affairs and is particularly interested in educational matters. For several years he served as a member of the school hoard.
The Hubbards were early settlers in Maine, coming to this country from England. The subject of this article has in his possession an old Queen Anne flint musket, which was carried by his great-grandfather Hubbard in the Revolutionary war. Grandfather William Hubbard, a native of Maine, was a life-long resident of that state, a farmer by occupation. He died when about fourscore years of age. The parents of our subject, James and Hannah (Adams) Hubbard, were natives of Maine and Gilmanton, N. H., respectively. The mother was closely related to the two presidents of the United States, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. She is a daughter of Samuel Adams, who departed this life in New Hampshire. She is now eighty-five years of age, and is making her home with her son, James E. James Hubbard joined the colony which vent to Grinnell, Iowa, in 1854, and there established Grinnell College and the Congregational Church. He bought and sold real estate there for a few years and in 1860 started for Pike's Peak, with oxteams. Arriving in Blackhawk, Gilpin County, Colo., he engaged in mining and the following year built a log house and made other improvements upon a farm three and a-half miles from Boulder on the South Boulder River. His family joined him August 14, 1862, and he continued to cultivate his homestead until a year or two before his death, which event occurred in 1878, when he was in his sixty-sixth year. He was a deacon in the Congregational Church here, and was one of the chief contributors to the building at the time of its erection. Of his five children one is deceased. Elizabeth is the wife of Eli Dickerson, a Boulder merchant; Martha is Mrs. LeFevre, of Gunnison County; and Sarah is Mrs. Robert Lyman, of this place.
James E. Hubbard, the youngest of his father's family, was born in Sanford, Me., September 22, 1851. With the others he went to Grinnell, and in 1862 came to this state with his mother and sisters. They journeyed overland by oxteams, via Plattsmouth, Neb., up the South Platte and through Fort Lupton, and altogether spent eleven weeks on the trip. James E. was a student in the first schoolhouse erected in Boulder, and prepared himself for college under private tutors. In 1870 he entered the freshman class of Grinnell College, and when the institution burned down two years later he went to Iowa City and in 1873 was graduated from the law department of the University of Iowa. Returning to this state, he embarked in legal practice in Georgetown, but two years sufficed to show him that such a confining and taxing calling was seriously effecting his health. For a few years he worked out of doors on his father's farm, and when fully recuperated he came to Boulder. In December, 1882, he embarked in an enterprise new to the town and vicinity. He purchased a whole block of land (half of which he has since sold) and built greenhouses. He has handled all kinds of plants and flowers and nursery stock. He has five greenhouses, and over twelve thousand square feet of glass. In 1894 he bought five acres of land lying immediately east of the university grounds, and has here planted strawberries and ornamental shrubbery, etc. He takes orders for decorating, plants and cut flowers, and does by far the largest business in his line in this section.
The wife of Mr. Hubbard was, before their marriage in 1873, Miss Rhoda Duke. She is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and was educated in
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the University of Iowa. Her father, John C. Duke, who, years ago, owned a large factory in Ottumwa, Iowa, and was the patentee and manufacturer of Duke's Patent Window-screen, is now in charge of Mr. Hubbard's nursery business. The six children of our subject and wife are: James Robert, who graduated from the University of Colorado in 1898 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts; Charles, a member of the class of 1901, in the same institution; Edwin, May, Helen and Estella.
In the Masonic order Mr. Hubbard stands very high, being past master of Boulder Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M.; R. A. C. of Boulder Lodge No. 7, R. A. M.; and Generalissimo of Mount Sinai Commandery No. 7, K. T. He also belongs to El Jebel Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Denver, and is connected with the Knights of Pythias, being a member of Boulder Lodge No. 76, of that order.
EV. R. P. ROBINET, who was pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Fort Collins, St. John's at Longmont and St. Mary's at Greeley, was born in the grand duchy of Luxemburg, which in 1814 came into the possession of the King of Netherlands, but in 1830 was given, in part, to France, and has since continued under the dominion of these two countries. His father, John, and grandfather, Jerome Robinet, were natives of France, and the latter, who served under Napoleon, accompanied that general on his march to Moscow, was taken prisoner, confined in the bastile there and finally released by a large equipment of soldiers that came from France to reinforce the army in Russia. The Robinets are an old French family, one of whose members became an illustrious philosopher.
John Robinet, who was an agriculturist by occupation, owned land lying in France, Belgium and Luxemburg. He was a man of means and influence and held a high place in the esteem of his countrymen. His death occurred on his farm in 1894, when he was seventy-two years of age. He had married Maria Krier, who was born in the village of Eischen, Luxemburg, and died at thirty-four years of age. She was a daughter of Henry Krier, who owned a brewery and an entire side of a street in their village, Eischen. The ownership of the brewery descended to Mrs. Robinet, who left a large fortune to her children, Catherine, Eliza, Henry and our subject. Of these all remain in Europe excepting the youngest. The father was a second time married and had three children, all of whom reside in Eischen.
In the village where he was born August 19, 1857, the subject of this sketch obtained the rudiments of his education. He then entered the city schools of Luxemburg, where he studied the classics. Later he was under a private tutor in Grevenmocher, on the Mosella. He was fortunate in being able to secure the services, as instructors, of some of the most brilliant Prussian priests, who, having been forced to flee from their own country, had sought refuge in Luxemburg. Among his instructors was the former chancellor of the diocese of Trives, with whom he remained for two years. He then went to the city of Charleville, France, and for three years carried on classical studies there.
In the early part of 1879 he came to America and joined some friends in the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, where he completed his philosophical studies. From there he went to St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, where he carried on the study of theology for three years. On the completion of his preparation for the priesthood he was ordained by Archbishop Heiss, of Milwaukee, June 24, 1884, and was assigned to the diocese of Colorado. At the earnest solicitation of Bishop Machebeuf he came to Denver, though he had much pressure brought to bear upon him to secure his services elsewhere, having received letters from the Archbishops of Oregon, New Mexico, Peoria, Green Bay and Omaha, and being also solicited to remain in Milwaukee. Believing it would be best to come to Colorado, he accepted the invitation from the bishop of Denver, and celebrated the first mass in Colorado at St. Elizabeth's Church in Denver, it being the feast of precious blood. For thirteen months he was occupied as an assistant in Denver, after which he was sent to Fort Collins and reorganized a Catholic congregation, which had been in a chaotic condition. From his private fortune he paid off the church debt and placed affairs upon a solid basis.
However, the priest's efforts were not limited to Fort Collins. He organized a church at Platteville, also at Brighton, and was the first to say mass in these places. He also inaugurated
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